Dewey's Niece
by Freddy'sGirl01
Summary: When Dewey's niece come over for a visit, things go terribly wrong, and people get terribly hurt.
1. In She Comes

_Hey waz up? This is my first story, so no flames, please. And since it is my first Fan Fic, it would be nice if I get lots of advice. I have worked really hard on it. And have worked up** a lot **of courage to post this. I will update in like a week or less. And I will try to reply to my reviews, if I get any. So on to the disclaimer and the story. Hope you like it!!_

**Disclaimer:** I own no part of this School Of Rock movie. All I own is the plot, and the original characters. I wish I owned a certain drummer, and a guitar player, but I don't so that stinks. And just so I don't forget, in the Fan Fic, there are some added characters, like a parent or a brother, that aren't in the movie. But if I accidentally did copy something, I apologize. Just don't yell too loudly at me. On to the story.

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Dewey's Niece

Chapter 1

In She Comes

_Hey, Dewey wants the band 2 have practice today at his house at 4. Can u make it? Zack_

Freddy read the note Zack left him on his desk. He scribbled yes on the paper and gave it back. The band always practiced Mondays through Thursdays, but never Fridays. Freddy guessed that they had to have the practice because of the competition next week. Their new song wasn't sounding good yet, and they had to use it for the competition. As soon as the bell rang, all of the band members walked outside together.

"Everyone coming to the practice today?" asked Summer.

"You bet," replied Tomika. "But why on Friday?"

"The competition is next week Thursday, and our song stinks," said Freddy. He turned to Zack, who wrote the song. "It's not your fault, Zack. The singers just can't hit the higher notes, the base is off tune, and the keyboard music is too classical sounding."

"Are you saying we can't sing?" asked Alicia, clenching her fists.

"And that my bass is messed up?" yelled Katie, who joined Alicia with her fists up.

"And that I can't play rock music?" complained Lawrence, who joined the girls with this Kung Fu position.

"My mom's here I have to go, see you at Dewey's," said Freddy as he ran off.

Everyone laughed as he ran away.

"Nice one you guys," Summer said. She, Katie, and Marta were really good friends. "I guess I will see you at practice, since I am the band manager."

"You can count on it," Marta smiled. "See ya."

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"S'up, y'all. We've got some serious rockin' to do. Let's get to it," Dewey called from the kitchen. The band and Summer cheered and started setting up the equipment in the apartment.

"Are you ready?" Dewey asked, when he came back from the kitchen with a banana.

"No, Zack's not here," Marta replied. "And that's weird, 'cause he is never late."

"I guess I will have to get out my guitar, then." Dewey threw the banana peel on the floor and left to get his guitar.

"Or I could play," said a female voice. Out came a girl, about the same age as Freddy. She was really cute. She had bright blue eyes. Her brown hair's length was between her shoulders and her chin. It had two purple streaks in it. She was wearing a dark blue tank top with a pair of jeans. She was barefoot, and her toenails were painted purple. She was holding a sparkly blue electric guitar.

Dewey turned and noticed her. "No, Kristi, you can't. You don't know their songs."

"Yeah I do. School Of Rock is my favorite band. I know all of the songs by heart, even the one they are learning right now. So, Uncle Dewey, can I play?"

"Who is this kid, Dewey?" asked Freddy. He thought she was kind of cute, and he wanted her to rock with them.

"Oh, this is my niece, Kristi. She is staying with me for a few weeks. She is your age, and is obsessed with School Of Rock. And she is supposed to call me Dewey; 'Uncle Dewey' makes me sound old."

Kristi smiled and waved. "Hi you guys, and sorry Dewey, but can I rock with them?"

"No."

Kristi pouted and went to put her electric guitar away, but Freddy left his drum set and ran over to Dewey. "Let her play, dude. I bet she can rock pretty hard. And we need a guitar player. So she should play." Freddy turned to the band, "What do you guys say, should Kristi play?"

Kristi smiled as all of the band members raised their hands. She turned to Freddy, "Thanks a lot. Dewey would have never let me play. And as you know, I am Kristi. Who are you?"

"I'm Freddy. Come on, let's rock."

Freddy took his position at the drums, and Kristi stood where Zack usually did and plugged her guitar into an amp. Katie finished tuning her bass, and the backup singers cleared their throats. Dewey came in with his guitar.

"I know you want Kristi to play, but I still have to play," Dewey said. "So I am. So, after I introduce Kristi to the band, let's warm up with the song 'School Of Rock.'"

Dewey introduced the band, counted them off, and they began. Kristi played her guitar with accuracy and skill. _She is really good, she plays like she was in the band to begin with,_ Freddy thought.

Kristi took up Zack's solo and was playing it when Zack walked in. He started saying, "Sorry I'm late. We had a flat tire…." but stopped when he saw a girl playing his solo. _Who is that girl? She isn't that bad, but that is my solo, and she is adding on, _Zach thought. Indeed she was. Kristi was improvising to make the solo longer. The rest of the band was clapping and cheering. Kristi jumped in the air, but as she landed but she slipped on the banana peel and fell backwards. Zack ran to help her up. She grabbed his hand. As they looked up at each other, Zack realized she was kind of cute.

"Hey, I'm Zack. What's your name, and what are you doing here? And why are you changing my solo?"

"Oh, sorry. My name's Kristi-I'm Dewey's niece. He thought you weren't coming, so the band wanted me to fill in for you. As for the solo-"

"Don't worry about it. It was pretty cool, except for when you tripped."

Kristi giggled, "Thanks for helping me up. I-"

"Enough of this talkin', now let's get rockin' again, we have a competition Thursday"

Kristi turned to Dewey, "Since Zack's here, I guess I will leave."

"Or, you could play. I would rather sing than sing and play. The band wouldn't care."

"Alright, I'll play," said a smiling Kristi. She took her place next to Zack, and the started to play.

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"That was a great practice. Keep up the good work, and you'll be ready for the concert," clapped Dewey.

"What about Kristi?" asked Freddy.

"Can she-will she be playing with us?" Zach questioned, while Freddy scowled at him.

"If she wants-"

"I'd love to," Kristi smiled.

Everyone smiled and started to back up. Katie put her bass guitar away and approached Kristi. "Hey, Kristi, do you want to get pizza with me, Summer, and Marta, and then spend the night at my house? We want to get to know you."

"Sure, Dewey wouldn't mind. Let's go."

So the four girls left.

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_So, do you like it? Please review! Just no flames. Thanks. And a really, really, really, really, late birthday to Joey Gaydos Jr. (who played Zach). He turned 13 on April 18._


	2. At The Pizza Place

_

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Hey!! Time for me to update again. I'll try to post a new chapter every week, if time permits. And I'll try to respond to my reviews, if I don't have too many. So far, I've only had four. I wish I had more. But **please, please** review. I'm up to ideas and suggestions, so share them with me. Anyway, on to the story. But First, there was a computer problem so a weird thing popped up in the middle, sorry._

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own School Of Rock. I only own the Fullscreen DVD and the Soundtrack (which I adore). I wish I did but I don't. I don't even have the computer I'm writing on. (It's my dad's.) I do own the plot of this fan fic, and the original characters. And that's all I can think of at this point in time._

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Dewey's Niece

Chapter 2

At The Pizza Place

Katie, Kristi, Summer, and Marta walked into the local pizza place at six thirty. It was a small place, and it wasn't that busy. They ordered a pepperoni pizza and some pop and sat down at a table.

"So," Summer started. "What brings you to Dewey's house? Why are you staying there?

"Well," Kristi began. "My parents are in a fight, and they decided to go on a vacation to try to get things better."

"Sorry," Marta replied.

"It's ok, really," Kristi said. "They do that at least once every year. The vacation lasts from two days to a month or two." She drops her voice, "I think they're just making excuses to go on a fancy trip without me."

Every one exchanged glances.

"I don't care. I'd rather stay with Dewey, he's cool."

"He is," Katie smiled. Just then, with the girls unaware, Dewey, Freddy, and Zack came in to get a pizza. They ordered a bacon pizza and sat down at a table hidden by a plant. They could see the girls, but they couldn't see them.

"Dewey, remind me why you asked me and Zack to go get a pizza, and why are we sitting by a plant?" Freddy asked. "Are we spying on somebody?"

"No," Dewey paused as Zack and Freddy gave him a glare. "Alright, yes. I wanted to see if Kristi was going to be ok. I guess I could take you guys home." Dewey got up from the table

"No!" Zack shouted. "I want my bacon pizza, so sit down and pay for the small pizza and the two root beers. 'Cause I don't have the cash." Dewey sat and Freddy laughed.

"So, let's get spying on the ladies," Freddy smiled and peered through the plant at the four girls. "They are giggling at something." _Boy, Kristi looks hot when she laughs,_ Freddy thought.

They girls were laughing because Marta had just told Kristi about the time Dewey substitute taught for their class.

"He really did that?" said Kristi between giggles.

"You bet," smiled Katie as the pizza arrived. "Here's the pizza. Are we going to split the cost, when the time comes?"

"Yeah," replied Summer, who was looking around. "But I have the feeling someone is spying on us."

"Right," Marta said sarcastically, while grabbing a slice of pizza. "So, Kristi, how long have you been playing the guitar?"

"Yeah," Katy added. "You rock when you play."

"I have been playing for about three years," Kristi said while she grabbed another slice of pizza.

"Really?" Summer asked. "That's how long Zack has been playing."

"Oh, cool," Kristi smiled. "He's a really good guitar player. He's even better than me."

"No offense, but Zack isn't as good as you, you're way better." Marta said.

"He is much better."

"You hear that, you hear that Freddy, she says I am good," Zack smiled with light pink cheeks.

Freddy punched him in the shoulder, "Dude, so what? Chill."

Dewey tried not to smile, "I have to go use the big boy's room, so just chill, eat your bacon pizza, and don't get into trouble."

"Easier said then done," Freddy mumbled while he glared at Zack, who was staring at the girls through the plant. He punched Zach in the shoulder. "Dude, you look like you have problems."

"What? You look ticked off. What's the problem?"

"Nothing," Freddy lied.

"You can tell me, I'm your best friend." Zack took a piece of pizza as he listened.

"Fine. You see, I am getting the opinion that you like Kristi. I met her before you did, and I got her to play with the band. And I was thinking about asking her out. But now I can't, because you like her."

Zack wasn't looking to happy as he said, "You are? Seriously? Because I was thinking about asking her out, too. I helped her up today, and she seemed to like me, but I guess as just a friend." He put down his pizza and let out a sigh. "What are we going to do?"

Freddy set down his root beer with a thud. "Here's what we do; none of us will go out with her."

"What? You're insane!"

"I want to go out with her, too. But I don't want us to fight over her."

Zack took a sip of his pop. "Yeah, I still want to be friends. But we can still like her, right?"

"Sure-we just have to stay single."

Freddy held out his hand. Zack smiled. They shook hands with the handshake Dewey taught Lawrence. Things were back to normal. The two boys stuck their heads through the plant.

"What the heck-?" Zack cried.

"There gone!" Freddy yelled.

They were. While Freddy and Zack were making their deal, the girls left to go to Katie's house for a slumber party. Dewey came out of the bathroom and saw the two boys with their heads in the plant. "Are you guys ok?"

Freddy turned to face Dewey. "Yeah, but the chicks-_girls_-left."

"No big. Kristi seems like she is having fun. I'll catch up with her later. Now I have to get you home, so let's go."

"Alright," Zack said as he got up to leave.

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_I hope you liked it. Please review. And here are my review responses, if there is anything to say._

_Legolas-Aragorn-r-hot- thanks one invisible grape dum-dum for you_

_Shadowfaxgal7-thanks one invisible dum-dum stick (with no sucker on it) because you say school of rock isn't that good of a movie_

_FreddyzGurl-Thanks, an invisible dum-dum for you___

_Chocl8chps-thanks I luv your story, an invisible dum-dum for you too!_


	3. The Unexpected Phone Call

_Hi everyone. Thanks for all of the reviews you gave me!! I love them all. I responded to them at the end of the chapter. Keep reading and reviewing. Some poaple read the story and don't review, I'm sure, but just tell me if you like it or not. But I'll be quiet, and get on_ _to the disclaimer and the story._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own School Of Rock. Like I've already said, I just own the DVD and the soundtrack. I wish I owned the drummer, and Orlando Bloom, but I don't have them. I wonder how I could get them…_

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Dewey's Niece

Chapter 3

The Unexpected Phone Call

Over at Katie's house, the girls were doing each other's hair and painting their nails. They were talking and laughing as if they had been friends forever. Kristi thought that these girls were going to be her best friends. They were so nice, kind and funny. She had never really had best friends that had never turned their back on her. So she decided to ask what they thought of her, friendship wise.

"Hey, you guys, I want to ask you something."

"What?" Marta asked as she finished braiding Summer's hair.

"If you considered me your best friend, that's all."

"Of course, we do. You are really cool and fun," Katie smiled.

"And you are good at the guitar," Marta added.

Kristi smiled. She finished painting her toes hot pink as Katie's mom came in with a bowl of popcorn. "I thought you girls might be hungry. I'll bring up some soda in a few minutes. Then I want you to get to bed by, let's say, two in the morning."

The girls smiled and said, "Sounds good."

After the girls finished doing their hair and drinking their sodas, they all got flashlights and turned off the lights.

"Alright ladies, lets play "Truth or Dare'," Katie said, holding her flashlight up to her chin. "But first, we have to take an oath. Everyone's right hand up-repeat this pledge after me: I solemnly swear that these secrets stay in this room. If I tell them to anyone, living, dead, or unreal, I will suffer the consequences, which this group will decide." Everyone said the pledge and waited for Katy to decide who would go first. "Ok, I think that Kristi, since she is new, should decide who to question. Take it away girl."

Kristi smiled and put her flashlight up to her chin. "Alright Marta: truth or dare?"

"Truth," Marta replied.

"I have just the question for you: Who do you have a crush on?"

All of the girls whispered excitedly and sat quietly.

Marta sat there uncomfortably. "Well…"

"Spill the beans- we don't have all night," Summer said impatiently.

"Alright, alright. I really like…like…I really like a guy named Frankie." Her cheeks turned a bright shade of red. Summer and Katy laughed.

"Frankie?"

"The stupid kid who sits in the back of our class?" Katy said between fits of laughter.

Kristi looked confused. "Who's Frankie, and what's the big deal?"

Katie got out an old school yearbook, flipped to a certain page, and showed Kristi the picture of a weird-looking boy. "She likes that ugly dude," Katie snickered. Marta turned away, blushing.

Kristi stood up, upset. "You guys, what's wrong with you? Maybe you don't think that he's cute, but apparently Marta does. Or maybe she just likes his personality. Everyone has their own opinions, so just let Marta be." Summer and Katy sat quietly. They heard a sniffle over in the corner. They crawled over to Marta and gave her a hug.

Katie said, "I'm sorry, Marta. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I feel so bad."

"I do too," Summer whispered. "We weren't thinking at all. Do forgive us."

Marta turned around and smiled, "I will. Is it my turn to pick someone for our game?"

"Yeah," Summer said. Everyone got into a circle again.

"I pick Kristi, because she made me tell who I like."

"Sorry about that, but I would like a dare."

"Perfect, I have just the dare. You have to phone up the guy of my choice, and tell him you like him."

Kristi frowned. "What if I don't like him?"

"You'll have to break it to him later."

"Who is the guy?" Summer asked.

"Zack."

Kristi's stomach flipped. "Really?"

"Marta said so," Katie replied. She grabbed a bubblegum pink cell phone. "You can call him with this incase my mom is online."

Katie dialed Zack's number and gave the phone to Kristi. At the other end of the line, Zack was drinking Mountain Dew, eating Doritos, and watching 'The Three Stooges.' All of a sudden the phone rang. _Who would be calling at __eleven o'clock__ at night?_ Zack wondered. He grabbed the phone and was shocked by who called.

"Hi. Is Zack here?"

"This is him. Is this Kristi?"

"Yeah. Did I wake you up?"

"No, I always watch movies late at night on Fridays."

"Oh, ok."

If Zack was falling asleep, he was fully awake now. "Why did you call?"

"Just to talk. Is that such a crime?"

"No. So, what's up?"

"Nothing," Kristi replied. "What about you?" That began their long phone conversation. Kristi was enjoying every minute of the conversation. Zack thought that he was the luckiest boy on earth. All they really talked about was what they liked and what they hated. Summer, Katie, and Marta were getting bored. Marta decided to do something when Kristi started laughing loudly. Marta punched her in the shoulder to try to get her to stop laughing and to hang up. "Get to it Kristi, we don't have all night," she whispered loudly.

"Is someone sitting next to you?" Zack asked.

"No," Kristi lied. "But even though we didn't talk much, but I think I should go."

Zack yawned and looked at his clock. _We didn't talk long; its __eleven forty-five__! But it was worth every minute, _he thought. "Alright, I should go too. I'll catch up to you later, bye."

"Wait!"

"What?" Zack asked.

"I kind of wanted to tell you something." The girls behind Kristi all started to giggle and whisper.

"What is it?"

"Well, I don't know how to say this, but I like you as more than a friend."

"Really?" said Zack, not believing what she said.

"Yeah. My mom wants me to get to bed, so I have to go. Bye." Kristi hung up.

"Nice one Kristi, he will believe that." Summer smiled.

"Great lie," Marta giggled.

"Thanks," Kristi said, but she wasn't to sure that it was a lie.

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_Thanks for reading. Please review, but no flames, if you can help it. And since one reviewer liked the invisible dum-dums, I will give all my reviewers invisible blue-raspberry dum-dums. Enjoy! Here are my responses:_

_Shadowfaxgal7- Thanks update your story soon_

_Hula Baby319-Thanks, it was one of my longest reviews_

_Flatfoot-92- Thank you_

_Chocl8chps-thanks I read your two stories, they rock!!_

_Mellowyellow36-Thank you for noticing the spelling error, it took me 15 min to change it_

_Jessica- Thanks_

_Legolas-Aragorn-r-hot- Thanks LOL_

_Spyrosko- Thank you very much._

_Andilliah- LOL, thank you._

_Ahnigurl-I'll try to write one, if I get the time. Thank you._


	4. The Midnight Competition

_Hi everyone. Sorry it took so long to post this. I had a story due in Language Arts and a bunch of homework. I also had a lot going on. I hope that you like it, even though it's been two weeks since I have posted. Enjoy! But first, I guess I never really set the age for them. The kids are in sixth grade. Everyone is twelve, except for Freddy, who is thirteen. It is the end of the school year for them._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I do not own __School__ of __Rock__. (I think that you know that, unless you are stupid. I own the movie and the soundtrack. Do they make a poster? If they do, that's one more thing that I don't own._

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Dewey's Niece

Chapter Four

The Midnight Competition

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It had been a few days since the Zack had gotten the phone call from Kristi. He hadn't told anyone about it, even Freddy. If Freddy knew, he would be really jealous. And if they hadn't made that deal, Zack would have asked Kristi out already. But today was Wednesday, the day before the band's competition. Everyone, even the rest of the class, was over at Dewey's house to practice really hard.

"Ok everyone," Dewey called. "Tomorrow is an important day, so we have to practice really hard. You know what song we are playing: the new one."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "What about school?" Frankie asked.

"The competition is at night. Everyone has to be here, at my place, at seven sharp. The concert starts at eight. The winner will be announced at midnight. Mountain Dew will be available throughout the night. Everything clear?"

Everyone cheered. "Ok, let's get rockin'!" Dewey yelled. Everybody took their positions. Some were in one corner with their instruments. Others were positioned around the apartment. Gordon was at the table with his laptop working on a lightshow. Billy was on the couch working on an outfit for Kristi to wear. She was going to play with the band. Everyone was psyched about having her play, especially Freddy and Zack. Dewey counted them off, and they began. Michelle and Eleni were clapping and cheering. Then it was time for the guitar solo. Dewey decided to let the two guitarists decide who would play the solo. They never decided, so they both started to play, equally as good as the other.

Dewey stopped them with, "Stop, stop, stop. What the heck? You two," he said, pointing to Kristi and Zack. "Were supposed to figure out who was going to rock out with that solo at the competition tonight. I'll give you one minute to figure this out. Start now."

Kristi turned to Zack. "You have to play this. You are SO much better than I am."

Zack's cheeks turned pink. "No, you should. For your first gig. I'll survive without a solo."

"But this is your band. I'm new to the whole band thing. You play."

"No, you have to."

Kristi gently pushed him. "No, you play."

Zack smiled and pushed her back. "No."

"Yes, play it Zack."

"No."

"Yes."

"Stop!" Dewey said. "If you can't decide, the band will." He turned to the band. "If you want Kristi to play, raise your hand." It looked like everyone raised their hand. "If you want Zack to play tomorrow, raise your hand." No one did. Not even Kristi. He raised his hand for her. Why didn't she raise her hand for him?

Kristi smiled. "So I get to play?"

"Yeah," Dewey smiled. "Is that ok, Zack?"

He forced a smile. "Yeah, sure." Kristi looked at him funny. "You take the solo, I don't mind," he told her.

"Alright, thanks," Kristi smiled. "Can we play the song again?"

"Yeah, let's get rocking'," Freddy yelled. He tapped on a cymbal and counted them off. And they did an awesome job until practice was done.

"Great practice ladies and gents," Dewey cheered. "Now get lots of rest and be here at seven sharp tomorrow. See you later."

Everyone left except for Billy, Freddy and Zack. Billy walked up to Kristi and handed her a bag. "Here is your outfit, Kristi. I hope you like it." He smiled at her.

Kristi took the bag and looked inside it. "Thanks, Billy. I like the looks of it. And it's my size?"

"You bet. I have to go home and hem up some pants. Bye."

Kristi smiled and waved goodbye. She then realized that Freddy and Zack were still there. Kristi sat down the bag and went over to the drum set, where the two boys were standing. "Hey, why are you still here?"

"Oh, no particular reason; we are still packing up," Freddy smiled. "I can't wait to see you rock tomorrow."

"Thanks," Kristi smiled.

"Well we have to go, come on, Freddy," Zack said sternly.

"Are you ok, Zack?" Kristi asked.

"Sure, let's go," he replied, dragging Freddy with him.

"Alright, bye."

"What the heck, Zack? You seem really ticked," Freddy said as they walked out of the apartment and started down the stairs.

"No, nothing's wrong," Zack lied.

Freddy stopped and turned to face Zack. "It's the solo, isn't it?"

"Bingo." Zack kept going.  
  
"Why are you so mad? I thought you didn't care if she took it. And if you like her-"

"Like her?" Zack stopped. "I hate her right now. That solo has my name written all over it. If she rocks on it, which she will, all the people will like her more than me. Soon my name will disappear from the band's list faster than Tomika can eat a foot long sub."

"That won't happen."

"She's better than me, sure it will," Zack stormed out of the building. Freddy followed him.

"Chill, you're ticked off over nothing. But anyway, you don't like her anymore?"

"Don't ask me that now! I am in the middle of a crisis!" Zack spotted his mom's car and turned to leave. "Bye," he yelled at Freddy.

Freddy gave him a confused look. "Alright then, bye."

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It was five after eight on Thursday night. Everyone had crammed into Dewey's old van and headed to the competition. They band played at ten fifty-two. They were all hanging out backstage with Mountain Dew cans. They were also getting very hyper. Kristi was standing with Marta, Summer, and Katie. She had changed her two purple streaks to red ones. She was wearing a white tube top with the band's logo on it. Then she had one of the school's grey jackets on. Its sleeves were ripped so it was like a tee-shirt. Kristi also wore a plaid skirt with thick soled shoes. She was tuning her guitar with Katie and her bass. When that was done, Kristi sat down her guitar and sat down on the couch by Zack and Freddy. Zack glared at her and got up off of the couch. Freddy slid over by Kristi and put his arm around her. As he did this, many different thoughts went through Kristi's mind. _Oh my gosh! He just put his arm around me. I don't even know him that well, but who cares? I do know that he plays the drums better than anyone I know, and that he is hot, if you could put it that way. What if he likes me? I like him. But will that bother Zack? I lied and said I liked him-but was it a lie? I guess so. He isn't that cute, but he has a good personality. But he has never said anything to me, really. So, I won't say anything to Zack, and I'll have a good time talking with Mr. Hottie!_ She smiled at him; then shot a look at Zack. "Is he alright?" she asked Freddy.

"Oh, sure," he replied. "He didn't get enough sleep, that's all."

"He wants the solo, doesn't he?"

"Maybe, but you should keep it. You rock when you play it."

"That's what everyone says."

Freddy smiled. "Because it's the truth. Now cheer up. It's going to be fine." She smiled at him, and they started to flirt. There was one problem with that; Zack saw the whole thing. Now he was even more ticked off. _I thought she liked me. Now she's flirting with my best friend,_ Zack thought.

"Group huddle," Dewey called out. The band came over and stood in a circle. "We are on in five." The band cheered. "Everyone get ready. Like the last few gigs, we only have one song. We do have something new though. This chick." Dewey gestured to Kristi, which made Kristi smile and Zack scowl. "So let's get ready to rock." The band cheered, got their stuff, and went out on the stage to rock.

The band played their song with accuracy and fury. Kristi sent the crowd screaming with her solo, while Zack just stood their and tried to force a smile. School Of Rock left the stage with a cheering crowd. When back stage, Katy, Marta, Summer, and Kristi got together and screamed.

"You were awesome," Katie smiled.

"You rocked," Marta screamed.

"We are so going to win," Summer cheered.

Freddy went up to Kristi and pulled her aside.

"What's this for?" Kristi asked.

"I just wanted to say that you were great."

Kristi smiled. "Thanks. You were great too." She turned to go back to the group when Freddy stopped her.

"Wait," Freddy said. He cheeks turned red as he said, "I also wanted to ask you something. You can't possible know how hard this is, but I like you a lot. Will you go out with me?"

Kristi smiled. "I'd love to, 'cause I like you too." She gave him a hug and went to find Katie and tell her what just happened.

Later, the band stood by the stage with their fingers crossed. It was eleven fifty-nine, and the judges were going to announce who won. Kristi and Freddy were holding hands. They were really excited.

One of the judges went onto the stage. "This year was one of the best years yet. The performers were great, but we only can pick three winners. Our third place winner is…" The judge opened an envelope. "School Of Rock. Come onstage to get your trophy." The band came screaming onto the stage. Dewey grabbed the trophy and held it in the air. He passed it on to Kristi so he could grab the check for one hundred dollars. Freddy kissed her on the cheek as she passed the trophy to him. Freddy turned around to pass the trophy to Zack, but he had seen the kiss and left the stage. The band decided to follow, since the applause was dying.

Kristi ran after Zack, who was standing in a corner. "Zack, what's wrong?" she asked.

He turned around and glared at her. "You've done enough damage, alright, now leave me alone." He turned and ran away from her.

Kristi started to follow him, but she stopped. She thought of the phone call she made to him. It really made him think that she liked him. There was more to this than she could think of at the time. _Oh, what did I do now,_ she thought.

* * *

_Thanks for reading. Please review. If you give me good reviews, it helps me to get writing faster, and posting sooner. These next few chapters are really interesting, so I will probably be posting really soon. All of the reviewers get invisible Green Apple Dum-Dums. Here are the responses:_

_Mel15- Thanks._

_Legolas-aragorn-r-hot- LOL. Thank you._

_Ahnigurl- Thank you, most of the story is already written, I'll try to add it at the end, if I can._

_Flatfoot-92- Thanks._

_Mellowqyellow36- Thank you-what do you mean by 'don't embarrass Zack'?_

_Shadowfaxgal7- LOL, but I like to watch the Three Stooges, but I love the review, (don't worry, I'll make you do that )_

_GuesswhoIam- LOL_

_Swimmerkitti- Sarcasm Thanks for the flame. It was my first one._

_Nanners-77- Thanks. _


	5. The Trouble Starts

_Hi everyone. I'm going on vacation this weekend. I wanted to post before I left, so I'm hurrying to write this. Then, I won't post until summer vacation starts, which is a week away. Yay! But a few things: I added some characters in, like parents and siblings. And, I use words like piss and frick, and the likes. They are basically in this chapter. And there is a tiny amount of violence, beware. This chapter was really hard to write, so bare with my, and don't be too harsh. On to the chapter; it's my favorite so far._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Not too much to say, and I'm in a hurry, so I don't own School Of Rock or any of the characters, except for the original ones I made up._

* * *

Dewey's Niece

Chapter Five

The Trouble Starts

* * *

Kristi watched as Zack left. Freddy came over to her and stood next to her. "Don't let him get to you."

"But he's really mad at me." She turned to face Freddy, and tried not to cry. She knew why he was mad. It felt like it was all her fault.

"And what if he is? Just give him a few days and he won't be mad anymore. I'm his best friend, and I'm speaking from experience." Kristi still looked really upset, so Freddy gave her a hug. "C'mon, let's go get in the van." He took her hand, and they walked out together.

Zack wasn't in the van. When Kristi asked Dewey where he was, Dewey told her that his mom came to pick him up. "He looked really upset that we didn't place first. And I thought that Zack, out of everyone else, would take it the best." Kristi turned away, looking upset. Freddy wanted to make her feel better, but he thought she should work this out herself. _I wonder why she's so upset over Zack. Did she do something to him? Does she like him? No, she can't. Kristi liking Zack? No offense, but who would like him,_ Freddy thought to himself. He just decided to sit by her quietly. They sat in silence for the rest of the ride.

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When Zack got home, he ran to his brother's room and pounded on the door. His brother, Adam, came to the door, cursing on his way.

"What do you want? It's one in the mornin'!" he shouted.

Zack put his finger up to his lips. "I need some girl advice," he whispered. Adam motioned Zack into his room. Adam was a sophomore in high school. He had jet black hair and gray eyes. He shut the door and joined Zack on the bed. "So what kind of help do you need?"

"Girl help: the tough stuff."

"Hit me." Adam laid down on the bed as he listened.

"Well you see, I'm asking this for a friend. He likes this girl. But his best friend likes her too. So they made a deal that they both wouldn't go out with her-"

"That was stupid."

"Why's that?" Zack asked.

"'Cause one of them would have ignored the deal. You know you can't make a deal like that. Especially when the chick is really hot."

"I do now. Anyway, so this girl calls up me-_my friend_-and says that she likes him. And he is happy, until he sees her kissing his best friend. And now he is ticked off. End of story."

"Well," Adam started. "You-_I mean your friend-_ never asked her out. But I guess if he was a good friend, he couldn't have done anything. So, I guess his life sucks; that's all I can say."

"That's all, no advice?"

"No, now get out!" Adam threw a pillow at Zack. Zack ran out of the room and into his own. He jumped onto his bed and instantly fell asleep.

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Zack wasn't at school the next day. The class was told that he had had a really bad asthma attack and couldn't come to school. Freddy hoped he was ok. But he wanted to know why Kristi was so upset over him. So, after school Freddy decided to call Zack. He wanted to make sure he was ok, and he wanted to see if Zack was coming to the pizza party Dewey was throwing for the band.

Freddy grabbed his phone and dialed Zack's number. Instead of getting his friend, he got his friend's mom.

"Hi Mrs. Mooneyham, can I please speak to Zack?" he asked.

"Is this Freddy?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he normally wouldn't talk, because of the asthma attack, but I guess its ok, since you are his best friend."

Freddy smiled to himself and waited for Zack to pick up. But he got his mom again.

"It's funny, but Zack doesn't want to talk to you."

"Weird. Well, can you ask him if he's going to the party today at Dewey's?"

"He seems well enough to go. I'll ask him."

Freddy waited for a while. He was afraid that he would say no. Zack's mom came back and said, "That's odd. Zack doesn't want to go. He said to tell Dewey he's sorry he can't make it. He's been acting really odd since you called."

"Well, thanks, bye." Freddy hung up, wondering if Zack was alright, and if he had anything to do with this.

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Everyone gathered at Dewey's for the pizza party. They put on a Led Zeppelin CD and were having a good time when Lawrence noticed Zack wasn't there.

"Where is Zack?" he asked.

Kristi looked at Freddy. "He ain't comin'" Freddy responded.

"Why not?" Dewey asked. "Is it because of that really bad asthma attack?"

"No. He's just really upset," Freddy said. Kristi pulled him aside.

"So you talked to him?" she asked.

"No. He didn't want to talk to me either."

"Oh. So what do we do?"

"Nothin', I guess."

Kristi frowned. "I guess you're right. I just want to know why he's so pissed, that's all."

"Me too." They two of them went to grab some pizza.

Later, Katie went over to Freddy and Kristi, who were talking on the couch. Katie sat on down next to them. Kristi smiled and said, "Hi Katie, what's up."

"Not much. I wanted to ask you how you got a hold of Zack."

"I didn't," Freddy responded. "I just got his mom to ask him."

"Oh, I never tried asking his mom to tell him something. I thought calling him until he picked up was the only way to reach him."

"So you got a hold of him?" Kristi asked.

"After, I tried his regular phone dozens of times, and I called his cell phone until he picked up, yeah, I got a hold of him."

"Is he ok?"

"Sure. He just said he was mad at some guys in the band. He says he needs some time to get over it. But he'll be back at band practice on Monday, I hope."

Kristi turned to Freddy. "Do you think he's mad at us?" she asked.

"He couldn't be mad at you two," Katie interrupted. "I mean, Freddy, you are his best friend. And Kristi, he looks up to you. He loves the way you play your electric guitar. Why would he be mad?"

"I don't know," Kristi said. "But who would he be mad at?"

"I don't know, but he wouldn't be mad at you." Katie got up off of the couch. She turned around and said, "I'm positive about that."

Kristi and Freddy exchanged glances. There was an uncomfortable silence for the most of the night. As everyone left, Freddy and Kristi both wondered, _What did I do?_

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Zack was at school the next Monday. Nobody had talked to him over the weekend. Alicia had seen him get out of his dad's car and go into the building. It was before school, and she hurried to tell the other members of the band.

"He's here, I saw him," she said as she ran up to the band.

"Zack? He's here?" Marta squealed as she heard the news. The rest of the band let out a cheer. Everyone was worried sick about him, even Lawrence. Everyone also thought something drastic had happened to him. Lawrence decided to voice what he thought.

"I'm so glad he's ok. I thought he might have been depressed."

Freddy gently punched him. "No, dude. That's insane." He lowered his voice. "I thought he was on pot or somethin'." Everyone was upset at that, especially Katie. Rumor was that she had a tiny crush on Zack. No one could confirm or deny it.

"Don't say that Freddy," she said. "No one even knows if he is ok. I'm not sure he's depressed, and I don't think he is on pot."

"I was just wonderin'," Freddy mumbled, scratching his head.

They entered the classroom, where Zack was sitting with his head on his desk. Everyone walked over to him, but he lifted up his head, yelled, "Go away, leave me alone!" and put his head on his desk again. Freddy walked over and sat at his desk. He prodded Zack until he spun around and snapped, "What?"

"Dude, chill. I just wanted to know if you are ok. You won't talk on the phone, and you didn't come to the band party. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied.

"Zack, you suck at lying. What's really wrong? Kristi also wants to know. She's really upset."

"That surprises me, since she's going out with you."

"So that's why you're mad."

"Heck yeah. I thought we made a deal. That we'd stay single. And wouldn't go out with her."

By now the whole class was listening. The low talk turned to a soft yell, in this epic argument.

Freddy took a long breath. "Well," he started. "You seemed real pissed at her, and I decided to make a move. No crime in that."

"To you." Zack stood up. "I can't believe you would do something like that; go against my back."

Freddy jumped up and faced Zack. "What am I supposed to do, huh? Dump her?"

"That would be nice."

"Well, I can't do that!" Before he knew what he was doing, he punched Zack in the cheek. Zack staggered back and put his hand to his cheek, feeling the stinging pain. He didn't know Freddy could punch that hard.

"What was that for? You wanna go?"

"Yeah," Freddy replied, and the fight started.

Freddy looked at this as an easy fight. Before he came to Horace Green, he got into fights all the time. He won most of them, even the fight with the high schooler. That was one of the reasons that his family moved. Freddy's mom wanted him to go to a school where fights wouldn't be provoked. But a fight with Zack, it would be too easy. Freddy could tell that Zack was a lot weaker than he was, and he looked forward to beating him up. So Freddy threw a punch at Zack, aimed for the face. But, with his good reflexes, Zack dodged it and popped him upside the face. Freddy was shocked that someone could hit him fairly hard, at this prep school. But he thought a little long. Zack punched him hard in the eye. Freddy staggered back, tripped on a desk leg, and fell and hit his head against the back counter.

"And you probably thought that I couldn't fight," Zack said satisfactorily. As he said that, Freddy felt his head. It was really stinging badly. As he brought his hand back, he saw a crimson liquid on his fingers.

Blood.

"You…you cut me..," he stammered. Then Freddy ran up and tackled Zack. The wind was knocked right out of him as he fell to the ground.

Summer didn't like the look of things. She left silently, and Katie followed. "Things don't look to good in there," Summer said when they were in the hallway.

"We have to do something," Katie replied. "I don't want anyone to get hurt really bad."

"Same here. We have to get Mrs. Dunham."

Katie turned to run. "You get her, and I'll get Ms. Mullins." They both left at top speed, fearing for the worst.

And things were a lot worse in the classroom. The floor had little red specks all over it. The two boys were punching, scratching, and kicking like there was no tomorrow. Everyone had run out of the room, except for Billy, who was cowering under a desk, very afraid. Freddy had a black eye and a cut lip. Zack had a gash on his face, a bloody nose, and a swollen eye that he couldn't see out of. Freddy punched the other eye, and Zack couldn't see at all for a second.

He blindly flipped over on top of Freddy and said in-between punches, "Y'know, I would be able to see right now if you weren't going out with that bi-"

Freddy suddenly, and with great strength, tossed Zack off him and grabbed his collar. He then pinned him to the wall. "No one, calls my girlfriend that, you hear?" Zack struggled to breathe. Freddy had a strong, menacing, grip. He wanted to protest, but he couldn't make a noise, let alone breathe.

Freddy tightened his grip, his heart pounding. "If you say anything like that about her, and even ask me to dump her, I assure you that I will-"

The door slammed open. At it stood Katie, Summer, Ms. Mullins, and Mrs. Dunham. Mrs. Dunham was a stout plump, woman. Her curly, black and gray hair was down to her chin. Her gray eyes were shocked as she saw the two boys in the corner. When the door opened, Freddy let go of Zack. Zack slumped onto the floor, breathing in deeply, as his face came back to its original color. Their two faces were covered with sweat, blood, and dirt. The back of Freddy's head was red, because of the cut on it. They were both breathing in deeply and in a lot of pain. Katie put her hand up to her mouth in shock.

Ms. Mullins stepped in the door. "What is going on?" she demanded.

"He started it," Freddy said.

"Bull crap," Zack replied.

Both of you, down to my office, now." Ms Mullins pointed out the door. "We will call your parents, and the nurse, and have a nice long talk." They marched out of the room. Everyone else filed in, and Billy came out from under the desk as Frankie and Gordon snickered at him.

_Something is totally wrong here, with Freddy and Zack, _Katie thought. _ And I have to find out what it is._

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Freddy ran into Dewey's apartment and slammed the door. Ned and Patti had moved out, giving the apartment to Dewey. Ned occasionally dropped by to help give lessons to other kids in the School Of Rock program. Dewey wasn't there, but Kristi was sitting on her bed, tuning her electric guitar. As soon as she heard the door slam, she ran to it. When she saw Freddy, she ran over to him and gave him a hug. When she stepped back, she realized the Band-Aid on his face and the black eye and said, "Oh my gosh, what the heck happened to you?"

"Fight at school."

"Against who?"

"Zack."

Kristi looked at him in shock. "Why? You were supposed to have a friendly talk, not a bloody fight. How badly are you hurt?"

"Not too bad. I just have a black eye, a cut lip, and a cut on the back of my head." He turned his head to show Kristi the cut. It was deep enough and long enough that he had to have nineteen stitches for it. It looked really bad.

"Oh my gosh. How'd he do that?"

"He punched me, made me trip, and I fell into the fricken back counter."

"That would suck."

"It did. I sat in the emergency room for an hour, to get nineteen stitches. My mom dropped me off here early, because she didn't want to come back here in fifteen minutes." He looked around the room. "So, where's Dewey?"

"He left to go get some guitar strings. He should be back soon. Anyway, back to the fight. Why'd you start it?"

"He started it, because I was going out with you."

"Figures. I knew he'd be mad."

"How?"

Kristi avoided the question. "I better continue to tune my guitar. I haven't tuned it in a while." She sat back down on her bed. Just then, Dewey came in with a pack of guitar strings.

"Yo, Freddy, why are you here early?"

"Got in a fight, came here from the ER so my mom wouldn't have to come by later."

"Yikes. What's your punishment?"

"I'm suspended for ten days." Dewey let out a low whistle. Kristi sighed and went to plug her guitar into her amp. Just then the rest of the band members ran into the room, except for Zack. Kristi and Freddy figured that he wouldn't show up. The band members ignored Freddy. Dewey looked around the room.

"Where's Zack? He's gone again."

"I'm right here." Zack was standing at the door. He was a mess. He had two black eyes and a huge Band-Aid on his cheek. He walked over to the corner where Dewey kept his guitars. "Can I use one of your guitars; I didn't have time to grab mine."

"Go ahead," Dewey replied. "What happened to you?"

Zack grabbed the white V shaped guitar. "I was in a fight." Zack went over and stood over by Kristi.

"Hi," she said. He ignored her. "Sorry about what my boyfriend did."

"So he's your boyfriend. Then you like him." Everyone was getting into their positions. Freddy was sitting at his drums, watching Zack. Kristi gave a small smile.

"Yeah."

"But you said in that phone call that you like me."

Everything went silent. Katie and Marta realized what was going on and glanced at each other. Kristi looked down at the floor. Freddy jumped up and went to face Kristi.

"What? You like him?" he yelled. "You are going out with me! You're supposed to like me!"

"But she said that she liked me before you asked her out."

Freddy faced Zack, and they looked like they were going to have another fight.

"Oh that," Kristi said. "Well I was at Katie's house with her, Marta, and Summer. We were playing Truth Or Dare, and I was dared to call you and tell you that I liked you. It was a lie. Sorry."

Freddy looked a little relieved, but Zack looked really upset. "'Sorry'? That's all you can say? You know how badly you just hurt me?"

"I guess I made you feel upset."

"Upset?" Zack was really angry. "I'm pissed off right now! First, you lied that you liked me. Second, you are going out with my best friend, who said he wouldn't go out with you. Then, you take my solo. And lastly, you took my position as lead guitar player."

Kristi was on the verge of tears. She didn't think that she hurt Zack as bad as he was. She looked up to him as a great guitar player. Now, he was making her feel like crap. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. But as for the lead guitar thing-"

"Shut the heck up!" Zack yelled.

"No!" Kristi screamed. "You are still lead, I just play backup. You're so much better than me. You can have all the solos, I don't care."

"That's fricken bull crap. Y'know," Zack said as he threw down the guitar and walked to the door. "This band doesn't need me. And I don't need it. So, I'm quittin'"

"Don't quit!" Dewey said. "We need you!"

"Right. Just let that fricken girl play. See if I care." Zack left and slammed the door behind him.

The band was silent. No one wanted to play. They had just lost their best player. Freddy was shocked that Zack had just walked out like that. Katie didn't want him to quit. Dewey thought that the band would die without Zack. And Kristi, she was starting to cry. She turned to Dewey and said, "I'm sorry he quit, it's all my fault." She through down her guitar and ran to her bed by the window and sobbed. Freddy tossed his drumsticks onto the floor next to the two guitars and went over to the bed and rubbed Kristi's back as she cried.

All of a sudden there was a sound of tires screeching and the blare of a car horn. Then there was the sound of a crash. It sounded like it came from underneath Kristi's window. She sat up and crawled over to the window. Freddy just sat on the edge of the bed, confused. Kristi looked down at the road. After straining her eyes to get a closer look, she suddenly gasped.

"Oh my gosh," she said staring down. "There's been a terrible accident. Someone on a bicycle was hit." Freddy started walking over towards the window.

"So?" Lawrence said. "It's not like we know the guy."

"That's where you're wrong." Kristi turned to face the band, the tears starting to flow from her sapphire eyes once more. "It's Zack."

* * *

_Thanks for reading. About Zack-I'm so sorry. It pains me to do that. I love him so much-anyway, I feel bad for doing it, but I had to do it, or the story would have been ruined. Sorry. I hope you like it. Anyway, reviewers get invisible cherry Dum-Dums this time. Thank you for the reviews! Enjoy the Dum-Dums!_

_Shadowfaxgal7-Mabye that's the point._

_Legolas-Aragorn-r-hot-How did you find out about Carl? And since you saw the movie today, did you like it? Do you think that he's cute?_

_Mellowyellow36-What did I do to embarrass him? (I am so confused)_

_AhnigurL-I love them both equally. They are SO cute!_

_BlackFloyed03-If you don't like Mary-Sues, maybe this story isn't for you._

_Cinder2004-That was one of the nicest reviews I've gotten-it makes me feel happy :)_

_Kaitlin Bird-Thanks for pointing that out. I haven't changed it yet._


	6. The Accident

_Hi everyone. It's the first day of summer break. Yay! So I will give you a new chapter, in all of my excitement. I am kind of nervous posting it; it hasn't been read by anyone of my friends. Don't be too harsh if you review. Please review, though. And if you do, tell me what kind of genre you think that it is; 'general' isn't good enough anymore, so tell me what you think. And, if you review, I want to know if you like what's going on so far, it's getting a little more painful for my favorite guitar player. I can't believe I made him get hurt. I'm sure you all want to know what happened to him, so here's the story and the disclaimer. But first, since the movie never mentioned the city where it took place, (if it did let me know in a review) I'm going to say that it took place in __New York__, __New York__, or something like that._

**_Disclaimer:_**_Here's a question for all of you readers. Do I own all of the original __School__ Of __Rock__ characters? I'll give you ten seconds: ten…nine…eight…seven…six… (this is way two much time, but oh well) five…four…three…two…one…times up! The answer is …NO! I just own the original characters. On to the story._

* * *

Dewey's Niece

Chapter Six

The Accident

* * *

Zack stormed out of the apartment, tears starting to flow down his face. He brushed them away, thinking that real men didn't cry. But he thought he had reason to. He felt betrayed. He walked over to the blue and black bike that was his. He was still thinking that he was betrayed. Betrayed by his best friend, his crush, and even his band. _My life is so screwed up,_ he thought as he pedaled out onto the street. He had to get to the other side to go home. His house was a ways away, but he wanted to ride his bike. Zack was so busy thinking that he wasn't paying any attention to the traffic. He turned his head and saw a white truck heading toward him. Zack tried to get away, but the truck was too fast. He heard the brakes screech…

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Zack looked around. He was on the ground. He tried to sit up, but the pain was too intense. He didn't know where he was, or what had happened, when he heard two people talking.

"What the heck do you think you were doin', you could have gotten us all killed," said a strong, male, voice. It spoke with anger to another voice, which was shaking.

"I…I…I didn't mean… to," it stuttered.

"Then why don't you get out of your car, instead of sitting in there. You were also part of this accident, so you can come out."

The door of the stuttering man's car opened, and something fell out of the car. The other man picked it up. "A Bud Light can. You were drinking, in the middle of the day. And you could have killed me and this boy over there."

The drunken guy got out of the car. The alcohol was wearing off, and he was just realizing what was going on. "What…happened? Did I…kill…someone?" He looked at Zack, lying on the pavement, covered in blood.

The other man, the one with the strong, harsh, voice, let out a long, low sigh. "Well," he began. "I was driving along, doing the right thing, when you came swerving down the street, all drunk and everything. You were headed straight for me so I moved over. But then I saw this kid." He gestured to Zack. "And I swerved to avoid him. But when I did that, you were barreling straight toward me. So, I swerved again. Then we both hit him. I hope he's not dead."

_Not dead, I feel like I'm going to die,_ Zack thought. With all the strength he had he tried to lift his left arm. The pain was intense. He managed to lift the other arm. He felt his left arm, in which searing pain was going from fingertip to shoulder. When he brought his hand up, he saw blood. He moaned and turned his head to the left. He then noticed that there was blood all over the pavement. Zack remembered the accident. But thinking about the accident and the bloody pavement, made his head hurt, so he closed his eyes, and he passed out.

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"You're joking, right?" Dewey asked as the band headed to the window.

Freddy looked out the window. "'Fraid she isn't." He grabbed Kristi's arm. "C'mon, let's go." He dragged her out of the apartment.

"Wait! Where are we going?" She ran after Freddy.

He spun around. "We have to get to Zack." They ran out of the apartment and into the street. Off to the side of the road was a crumpled, broken bike. It was all shriveled up. Freddy looked up at Kristi. "That's Zack's bike. He got it for his birthday last year." Freddy remembered that sunny, hot day in July. School was going to start in a month and a half.

_"Alright, everyone, its time for Zack to open presents," Mrs. Mooneyham yelled. Zack and the seven other guys, including Freddy, ran over to the picnic table where all of the presents were piled up._

_Zack ran up to the pile and searched through it until he found a certain present. "I'll open up this present from Freddy first." Zach opened it with excitement. Held up the present, a new guitar strap. It was black with a skull and crossbones pattern. _

_"This is awesome-I love it!" Zack exclaimed. He looked at Freddy who was smiling. Zack smiled back and said, "Thanks. I love it."_

_Out of all of the presents, which varied from Ramones CD's to Super Soakers, Zack's favorite was the guitar strap._

_"Thanks everyone, I love all these presents." Zack turned to go back over to the pool. _

_His mom stopped him and said, "What makes you think you opened all of your presents? Dad, Adam and I got you something, too." Zack smiled as his mom called in his brother and his dad._

_"I wonder what it is," Zack thought out loud. His brother walked out with a bicycle helmet. Zack frowned, but the frown quickly faded as he saw the bike his father wheeled it in. _

_Zack ran up to it and said, "Oh my gosh, it's the bike I've wanted! It was so expensive at the bike store, how'd you manage to afford it?"_

_"We pulled a few strings here and there," Mr. Mooneyham replied. "Do you like it?"_

_"Like it? I love it! Can I ride it now?"_

_Mrs. Mooneyham chuckled. "You can ride it when you're guests leave."_

_Zack stepped back and turned to his friends. He said, "Alright. Last one into the pool is a pile of crap." Everyone jumped in with a big splash._

Freddy looked at the bike that was now a heap of metal on the sidewalk. "He loved that bike so much. I hope he's not in such bad shape as this thing." He turned to Kristi, but she wasn't there. He turned and saw her on the ground in the middle of the street. She was kneeling in a puddle of blood next to Zack. Boy, did he look terrible. His right arm was cut really deep and really wide. The blood was still spilling out onto the pavement. He still had the bruises and scrapes from the fight. He looked unconscious. Kristi was sitting by him crying.

Freddy started to run to Kristi and Zack, but he was stopped by a tall man with dirty blond hair. He looked like he was in his forties. In his deep voice he said, "Where do you think you're going, young man?"

"To get to my friends." He tried to get through, but the man, who was quite powerful, pushed Freddy aside. "There's nothing you can do, kid. An ambulance was called. It will be here as soon as it can. So just sit by that man, and I will talk to the girl and try to get him away from that mess."

Freddy was knocked down next to a man. He looked no older than eighteen. His brown hair was all matted down. He held his head in his hands, and looked deeply depressed. His bright blue eyes were watery. Freddy took one look at him and decided that he couldn't sit there. Freddy got up and ran over to the man and Kristi. She was talking to the man and looking really upset. Freddy could hear her saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to leave him, no matter what you want."

He stepped up to the man and Kristi. "Dude, leave her alone." He tried not to look at Zack, who was still unconscious. "She-and I-want to sit here by our friend, so shut the heck up, and go wait for the police." The man rolled his eyes and went to examine his truck.

Freddy went to the other side of Zack. "Is he out cold?" He asked Kristi.

"I think," she replied. She shook Zack lightly. "Wake up Zack, come on," she whispered.

Sirens were suddenly blaring. Freddy looked up and saw an ambulance coming. "The ambulance is here," he told Kristi. "Everything's going to be alright."

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Dewey and the band were cramming up against the tiny windows of the apartment. Dewey saw an ambulance coming up the road. "You guys," he said. "Band practice is canceled. You can use my phone to call your folks. I have to get down there." He grabbed his coat and ran out the door. The rest of the group went to wait to use the phone.

Dewey ran out of his apartment and down to the street. The police and an ambulance were already there. They wee loading Zack into the back of the ambulance. Kristi and Freddy were talking to one of the people by the ambulance.

"Can we come with?" Kristi asked.

"No," the man responded. "An ambulance is no place for little kids that aren't hurt."

Freddy glared at him. "We aren't little, and that's our friend in there. Why can't we come with?"

The man sighed. "Take that up with the driver." He shut the doors of the vehicle and went up to the front. Kristi and Freddy watched the ambulance drive away, sirens blaring.

Dewey was also watching. He decided to do something. He called, "Freddy, Kristi, get over here quick."

They ran over to Dewey. Dewey said, "Get in the van. Since they won't take you, I will." Freddy ran over to the van and jumped in.

Kristi went to get in, but Dewey stopped her. "Whoa, girl, what happened to your pants?"

Kristi looked down. The white drawstring pants were covered in blood. She had been sitting in Zack's blood, since the cut on his arm was so huge. "My parents will freak, won't they."

"You bet. Your mom has always been such a neat freak. That'll never come out. And those were some spiffy pants, too."

"I'm not going to change-I don't have the time. But you sound just like my mother. Why? It's not like you."

Dewey shifted his position. "Well, you're parents are coming back in about a week. They are going to send me an airplane ticket for you. It should be here soon"

"They are? Did they work out their little 'argument'?"

"There are fine now."

Kristi sighed and mumbled, "As usual. Do I have to go home with them?"

Dewey looked confused. "Yeah, don't you want to?"

"I would rather stay here, with you." Seeing Dewey's bewildered look, she added, "Never mind. Let's just get over to the hospital, and fast."

Dewey and Kristi jumped into the van and raced on to the hospital, where Zack was being raced to at the same time.

* * *

_Thanks for reading. You find out if he dies, or is just really hurt, (I can't believe I'm saying this) next chapter, which will be out in a week or two. Please review, or Zack will be really hurt (or dead), so review. Mystery flavored Dum-Dums for my reviewers, and here are the replies:_

_Shadowfaxgal7-The meanness isn't over, I might do something to some original characters that haven't been introduced yet._

_Legolas-Aragorn-r-hot-Kristi might not be as nice as you think. She doesn't have the nicest family, I guess I could say. (You will find out in chapter nine.)_

_RandomSmirf13-I wasn't too sure that people would be too pleased with that. I can't believe I hurt him!_

_Falling-leaves-You won't find out until chapter seven, but I have almost cried about what I did to him, thanks to Shadowfaxgal7-who would always bring it up in the hallway and at lunch at school-I can't believe that I hurt him._

_Cinder2004-I see that my story is on you favorite list. That's cool, but don't go crazy._

_Bri()-Thank you very much._

_Bub-I like your story. It's funny. But you've never seen School Of Rock. I try to talk to you next week-then I'll tell you who I really am._


	7. Waiting

_Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I haven't gotten to write very much this summer. And, not a lot of people have reviewed this summer, even though school's out. But if you read this story, please review. I don't mind constructive criticism, if that's all you've got to offer. It was a little hard to write, so I'm sorry if some stuff didn't come out right. But, I'm sure you want to read this, so I'll stop talking here and let you get started._

**_Disclaimer:_**_If you think I own __School__ Of __Rock__, you're really wrong and really dense. I just own the original characters, the DVD, the soundtrack, and the plot. I don't even have my own room-I share one with my sister. But I might get my own room in the basement!_

* * *

Dewey's Niece

Chapter Seven

Waiting

Kristi, Dewey, and Freddy ran into the emergency room. Mr. and Mrs. Mooneyham weren't there. Dewey said to the two kids, "Go sit down. I'll see if Zack's here yet." They sat down in two chairs and waited, something neither Kristi nor Freddy were good at.

Dewey approached the front desk. At it was a receptionist, who was about thirty years old. She had blond hair and green eyes. She asked him, "Can I help you?"

Dewey smiled. "I need to know if a Zack Mooneyham came in here yet."

The lady looked at some papers on her desk. She looked up and said, "I'm sorry. Nobody named Zack has been in here." She returned to what she was doing.

Dewey wouldn't take that for an answer. He slammed his fist against the desk, causing a flower pot on it to fall on the floor and shatter, and yelled. "Hasn't there been any kid in here in the last half an hour? Zack-he has dark hair and dark eyes, and is about twelve years old, I think-I don't know how old he is-but he has to be here!"

The receptionist looked startled by Dewey's outburst. She pulled a piece of paper out of a pile, scanned it over, and said, "There was a boy who just came in here, about five minutes ago. He looked like he was in a car accident. His eyes were shut, but he had dark brown hair. The doctors took him in for emergency X-rays. You can sit out here and wait, if you want. I'm sorry I can't do any more than that."

Dewey muttered thanks and sat down by Kristi and Freddy. He told them, "He's having X-rays right now. His parents haven't showed up yet. I guess we have to wait for them."

It was silent for several minutes, except for the voices of the other people in the waiting room. Kristi was staring at an abstract painting. She was bored, and there was nothing to look at. Freddy was holding his head in his hands and was looking stressed.

_I can't believe what happened, _he thought. _My best friend was hit. He could be dead, for all I know. I'm so worried. But I can't show it. What would Kristi think if she saw me panicking? Heaven knows what she would think, and what's happening to Zack. I wish I could be next to him, or out there helping. But I can't. I guess I just have to sit here, hoping that he isn't hurt to bad._

All of a sudden, a door slammed. In walked two people, a man and a woman, both looking terrified. They were Mr. and Mrs. Mooneyham. Mr. Mooneyham was in a suit. His chocolate brown eyes looked frightened. Mrs. Mooneyham was squeezing his hand. Her dark brown hair was messily combed, and she had tears in her eyes. They looked around the bleak emergency room for some sing of comfort. Then they say Dewey and Freddy-familiar faces.

Dewey and Freddy ran up to them. They shook hands and greeted each other. Freddy turned and noticed Kristi sitting there, all alone. She looked really upset. He walked over to her and said, "They are Zack's parents. Dewey's telling them who you are, so go say hi." He walked her over to them. Kristi shook Mr. Mooneyham's hand, but when she offered hers to Mrs. Mooneyham, Kristi received a hug.

Mrs. Mooneyham wiped tears from her eyes and said, "I'm so terrified. What if he's hurt?"

"He's obviously hurt, Lily. I think they have paperwork for us to fill out," Mr. Mooneyham said as he led her to a chair. He felt that the less they talked about it, the better. Then he went over to the front desk. Everyone else sat down in the plastic chairs in the corner. Lily was crying, and Dewey was trying to comfort her until her husband got back. Kristi was sitting in silence. Freddy put his arm around her shoulder. She looked away. He sensed that something was wrong so he said, "Are you okay? You know, if you think that this is your fault, it's not."

She turned her head, wiped a tear from her eye, and said, "It seems like it. If we weren't going out, and if I hadn't joined the band, none of this would have ever happened."

"Don't say that. Aren't you happy, that we are going out, and stuff?"

"Yeah, it's like a dream come true. I love it, and I love you. Even though we haven't done much together, we've been so busy, you just make me feel like I'm where I belong whenever I'm with you."

Kristi blushed from what she had just said and turned away. Freddy smiled, but that smile faded away when a nurse came out and said, "Mr. and Mrs. Mooneyham, we have the results of Zack's X-rays, if you could come back here with me, please."

"Let's go, Derrick," Lily said.

Freddy stopped them to ask. "Can we come too? I mean, we're his friends, and we want to make sure he's going to be okay."

Lily nodded, and Kristi, Freddy, and Dewey followed Lily, Derrick, and the nurse into a small room. In it, there was an illuminated panel, and on it were pictures on an arm and a backbone. The nurse gestured to some chairs, and everyone sat down.

Then a doctor, who had a name plate bearing the words 'Dr. Wentworth', came in. He asked, "So, are you the family of Zack Mooneyham?"

Lily, who was sitting on the edge of her chair, said, "Yes, is he alright?"

"'Fraid not." He pointed to the X-rays, and continued, saying, "He has snapped a tendon in his arm. It will require some minor surgery, nothing big, really."

"That's not good," Kristi said, wringing her hands. "But that's all, right?"

Dr. Wentworth shook his head. "Sorry. He, well, he also broke his back. A surgeon will need to install rods in his back. And, sadly…" There was a long pause.

"What? Say it!" demanded Freddy. The tension in the room was rising, and everyone wanted to know what Dr. Wentworth was going to say.

"He won't be able to walk again, sorry."

Everyone was silent and in total shock, especially Lily. "What do you mean?" she cried. "My baby…can never walk again? That can't be true!"

"How could this happen?" Freddy mumbled. He was in shock, that his best friend couldn't walk again. Kristi looked really upset, too.

She stood up and said, "Excuse me for just a second."

Kristi ran out of the room and into the bathroom, where she started to cry.

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Katie yawned and ran up the stairs to her bedroom. She put on her pajamas and sat on her bed and let out a long, low sigh. It had been a trying day for her. Freddy and Zack had gotten into a fight. It had scared the living daylights out of her. Seeing Freddy cut and Zack struggling for air; it was just too much. And when he left the band; Katie didn't know what to say. Kristi was one of her best friends, but was she why Zack left? Then, to top it all off, Zack got hit by a car.

Katie liked him, and she was ready to tell everyone in the world, except for Zack. She had kept it from everybody that she knew, besides Marta and Summer. Katie was afraid that if he knew, that he wouldn't like her, and never speak to her. They didn't really speak to each other, except for at band practice. Katie got up, and decided to brush her hair. She combed it out and started to braid her hair. When Katie was little, her mom would always braid her hair when she was upset. She divided her hair into two sections and started to braid one of the sections. While she did that, she thought about the accident.

_I wonder what caused the accident,_ Katie thought. _In the middle of the day. Not many accidents happen in the middle of the day, I think. I hope Zack's alright. I don't think that the accident was too bad, I mean, that he wasn't hurt too bad. Maybe a couple of bumps and bruises, that's all. _

Katie was working on braiding the second section. While she was in the middle of it, her mother shouted, "Katie, get down here quick!" in a timid voice. Katie was confused. It was ten o'clock, and she hadn't done anything wrong. She started to ignore her, when her mother called up again, "Kaitlyn Marie, it's an emergency; you don't want to miss this!"

Katie ran downstairs to the family room, leaving her braided pigtails unfinished. Her mom and dad were watching the ten o' clock news. There was a picture of an ambulance loading a boy into it. Katie sat on the floor, hoping that that wasn't who she thought that is was.

The news reporter said, "Today we have had one of the worst accidents that our city has ever seen. Downtown, a young child was riding his bike on the street. He was sandwiched by two cars, one that ex-sheriff Donald Lemmings was driving. The other driver was a drunken teenager, named Cody Michelson. The both of them will probably be serving jail time. As for the boy, our star reporter, Mackenzie Roberts, is at the hospital for more on him. Mackenzie." She gestured to a screen with a smiling lady on it.

Katie stared at the screen, afraid and worried. "Is that-" her dad asked, but she silenced him as the reporter started to speak.

"This young boy," Mackenzie started, "Has the name of Zack Mooneyham," Katie gasped, "A person, who wishes to remain anonymous said that he was leaving band practice when he got hit. And, out of coincidence, Donald Lemmings's daughter, Marta Lemmings, is in the band. I think its name is School Of Rock. Anyway, back to Zack Mooneyham. He is staying in this hospital. I went to talk to Zack's doctor. Here's what he had to say."

Katie watched as a doctor came out. The doctor spoke, saying, "Zack was seriously injured in this crash. To make a long story short, he snapped a tendon in his left arm, and he broke his back. People who break their backs like that don't usually ever walk again."

Katie put her hand up to her mouth. Tears started to silently flow down her face. "Freddy! Kristi!" she cried out as she saw her two friends on the TV screen, apparently trying to leave the hospital. Kristi was saying something like, 'Leave me alone. I don't want to talk about what happened.' She was in tears, just like Katie. It all seemed blurry to her. Katie couldn't take it anymore. She ran up to her room, just as Mackenzie was giving the phone number to call if you wanted to give a donation to help pay for the surgery. Overcome with grief, Katie flopped onto her bed and cried herself to sleep.

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It was midnight. Dewey pulled his van into Freddy's driveway. "I'll pick you up from your house tomorrow at four, Freddy. So I'll see you later," Dewey said as Kristi and Freddy got out of the van.

They walked up to Freddy's porch together. "I'm so tired," Freddy yawned. "We spent so much time waiting for Zack to wake up."

"I know, and he never did wake up. So, when's Zack's surgery?" Kristi asked Freddy.

"They are going to operate on his arm at five in the morning, and if everything went okay, they'll start working on his back in the next few days."

"And we'll be able to see him?"

"For a few minutes, yeah. That's why Dewey's picking me up."

"Good. Well, I better let you go."

Kristi turned to leave, but Freddy grabbed her shoulder. When she spun around Freddy kissed her. Not like a tiny peck on the cheek, but a French kiss. (Obviously on the lips.) It was a little sloppy, but Kristi let into it slowly and turned it around. It was like nothing the two of them had ever felt or done before. Kristi quickly pulled away.

"Dewey's watching us," she whispered.

Freddy turned pink and said, "Oh, well, tell him I said bye."

They hugged, and Kristi ran to the van. Inside it, Dewey was cracking up. "Oh, shut up," Kristi said as she turned pinker than Freddy. She knew that she wasn't going to get him to stop, so, for no real reason, she mumbled, "He started it." That made Dewey laughed even more. Kristi punched him in the shoulder. They rode home in silence, with an occasional smirk from Dewey.

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The phone rang on the next day. Freddy woke up from his nap. Since he was suspended, there wasn't much he could do. His mom had taken his TV and his X-box, and made him stay in his room. He could only come out to go to the bathroom and to eat. The phone rang again. Freddy picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Freddy? It's Kristi." Kristi said, on the other line. "Having fun being suspended?"

"Yeah, loads of fun," Freddy sarcastically replied. "I have to stay in my room, with nothing to do. At least I get to sleep in."

"That's why I like being home-schooled; you can sleep in late."

"You're home-schooled?" Freddy asked.

"Yeah, my parents don't want me to go to a 'normal school with normal people.' It's so stupid."

"That's weird. So, when are you and Dewey going to pick me up-y'know, to go to the hospital, to see Zack?"

"Oh, that." Kristi sounded upset. "We can't go."

"WHAT!" Freddy yelled. "Why can't we go?"

"Well, Zack's mom called, like, five minutes before I called you. She said that they did the surgery on his arm. I guess it went OK. But he was in a lot of pain when the surgery was done. And the pain killer made him sleepy. Then, he had an asthma attack; his asthma is really bad, I guess. They're going to postpone the surgery on his back. His mom said that it would scare us-seeing him like that. They might have to put him in ICU if he doesn't do better. I'm so scared…"

"Aren't we all?" Just then, Freddy's mom came in. She apparently didn't want him on the phone.

She took the phone and said into it, "Freddy has to go."

She hung up the phone and said to Freddy, "You can't be on the phone. You're grounded, remember?"

"Yeah," Freddy said. After his mom left, he screamed in agony, and chucked one of his drumsticks across the room. It put a small hole in the wall. He couldn't see his friend? Zack needed him the most, right then, and he couldn't go up to him and say that he would be alright. But Freddy couldn't be there for Zack, his best friend. _ I feel really bad,_ Freddy thought. _He and I were mad. I guess I'm still a little mad, but I'm sure he'd like to see me. I just wonder whether I will be able to see him soon. _

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Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

That was the only sound in the entire room. No one spoke a word. It had been a week since Kristi called Freddy. Zack had the surgery on his back the day before. His mom and the nurse said that it would probably be alright if Dewey, Freddy, and Kristi came in for a quick visit. They had to wait until someone came and told them that they could go see him.

No one liked the wait. Freddy kept staring at the clock. Dewey kept cracking different body parts. Kristi was fidgeting uncontrollably. Freddy grabbed her wrist to try to get her to stop. He noticed the black skull and crossbones wristband. "What's up with that?" he asked Kristi.

"Oh. It's for Pirates of the Caribbean, you know, the movie. With the Jolly Rodger flag, for the pirates. It's got Orlando Bloom in it. He's so fine."

Freddy rolled his eyes, and continued to stare at the clock. It seemed like they had been there for hours, when it had really only been half of one. Freddy turned to Kristi, and asked, "Why are you here?"

"In what sense?" Kristi asked.

"I don't know, in the smaller sense, I think-I don't know."

"Well, I guess I'm here because I feel like it's my entire fault, and to see if he's ok. But why are you here? I mean, he got mad at you, and gave you those stitches. Not to mention such a hard time. Why are you here?"

Freddy replied, "I guess it's because he's my friend, and because when the going gets tough, friends stick together."

Then there was lots more silence. On the inside Freddy was about to burst. As the clock struck ten, Freddy jumped up and yelled, "I can't take it anymore! What room is Zack's Dewey, I'm gonna go to it."

"Its room three nineteen. Kristi can go too. As for me, I'm going to go get a cappuccino. See ya later."

Kristi got up and she and Freddy sprinted down the hall. Kristi followed Freddy, who didn't know where room three hundred nineteen was. They ran up and down stairs and through hallways, trying to fond the room. Freddy almost crashed into a lady in a wheelchair. Kristi stopped to laugh by a door. She looked at it and said to Freddy, "It's room three nineteen. I found it!"

Just then, a nurse stepped out of the room. Freddy asked her, "Can we go in and see Zack?"

The nurse smiled. "I don't see why not; just knock first."

Kristi muttered thanks and knocked on the door.

"Come in," called a raspy voice, which was probably Zack's.

She opened the door and they stepped in.

* * *

_So, did you like it? If you did, please review. If you didn't, please review anyway. I would like to have at least fifty reviews for my story. And here are my responses:_

_Mellowyellow36-I couldn't kill him, I love him too much. I'm sorry._

_Shadowfaxgal7-It did drive me crazy. And it made me laugh. And, I can't kill Freddy-he's too cute (just like Zack). Sorry to disappoint you._

_Legolas-Aragorn-r-hot-I don't think he's ugly, but Tom cut his hair. I can't believe him. It makes him look, well, less hot._

_Kaitlin Bird-Good point. But I couldn't kill him, he's too cute. (I've been saying this a lot, haven't I?)_

_Alissa-I almost cried too. I can't believe I hurt him._


	8. Out She Goes

_Hi everyone! Sorry that it is taking so long, but I've been really busy. And, sadly, the next chapter won't be up in a while, either. I am leaving for a vacation tomorrow. Then, every weekend until school starts, I'll be gone. But I'll try to get it up soon. I'm trying to get another story started, but I haven't had much time too. And, I want to change my screen name. It will probably be something with 'Joey' in it, because I like a certain guitarist that a certain drummer now. Just to let you know. But on to the disclaimer._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ (Do I always have to do this?) I don't own __School__ of __Rock__. Or the characters. I just own the plot. And the original characters. So, yeah._

* * *

Chapter Eight

Out She Goes

Kristi took one look at Zack and went to leave. Freddy stopped her, but he didn't blame her for trying to leave. Zack looked worse than he had ever looked. His left arm was in a cast from his hand to his lower shoulder. There were lots of different monitors and instruments connected to him, like an IV.

His hoarse voice sarcastically said, "Oh, it's you two. That just makes my day." He let out a little moan in pain and added, "This stuff really hurts."

Kristi couldn't help but saying, "Boy, you look terrible."

"Tell me something I don't already know."

"Sorry," Kristi mumbled. Freddy sat down in a chair. Kristi sat in one next to him.

"Why are you two here?" Zack asked.

"We came here to see you, and to cheer you up. I heard that the band members haven't come to see you yet," Freddy replied.

"You're the first visitors I've had."

"Then why aren't you glad to see us?" Kristi asked.

"Because, it's you two who are the visitors. Freddy gave me this black eye; I thought he was my best friend, but friends don't give each other black eyes. And you, Kristi, you caused this accident thing to happen."

Freddy jumped up angrily and yelled, "She didn't cause the accident. You were the one that wasn't paying any attention to the road. If you would have looked both ways, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"But if you hadn't asked her out in the first place, we wouldn't have been mad at each other. So, it's her fault."

Everyone in the room was yelling. Kristi screamed, "Well, Freddy, maybe he's right, so just shut up you two."

Freddy gave Kristi a confused look. "Why is it your fault? What did you do?"

"Well, if I hadn't come we wouldn't have won that contest; the band had lots of trouble with the stupid song. Then you wouldn't have kissed me, and gone out with me. And I am the lead guitarist of the band now, since someone with a crappy attitude decided to quit because they thought that I was better than them! So he was mad and got himself run over by a truck!" she yelled. Kristi then realized what she said. "I didn't mean to say that. It slipped out. I'm-"

"So the truth comes out," Zack said, with a shocked look on his face. You really think that you are better than me, and that you are better for the band?"

"No, don't take it like that. Honestly, I-"

"How am I supposed to take it? It sounds like someone never liked me, even as a friend, from the beginning. All you think about is yourself, your guitar, yourself, your boyfriend, and did I mention yourself? You don't care about anyone's feelings, or their talent. You just think of you and what you want. I can't believe that anyone in the band likes you, you're so selfish. And I'm right, aren't I?"

"I didn't mean to sound like that," Kristi tried to point out. She realized that she wasn't going to get anywhere, so she said, "Oh, forget it," as she ran out of the room with tears in her eyes.

"She's so selfish," Zack said as he shifted to a more comfortable position.

Freddy watched Kristi leave. He then turned to Zack and said, "How come you keep doing that-making her feel like crap? You know, she felt really bad that you got hit. She sat next to you on the bloody pavement while you were unconscious. She cried when she found out that you won't be able to walk again. And she was the one that wanted to come and visit you. How come you are so mean to her?"

"She kicked me out of the band," Zack replied stubbornly.

"No, you were the one that walked out on us. We had nothing to do with it-it was your crappy attitude."

"Everyone thinks that she plays better than me. She is a lot cuter than me. I was voted out. Everyone raised their hand for her."

Freddy thought of something to say. Zack was being so stubborn, in Freddy's opinion. He suddenly said, "Lawrence."

Zack gave him a confused look. "What does he have to do with this?"

"He didn't raise his hand for her-"

"Great," Zack satisfactorily said. Freddy scowled at him.

"You didn't let me finish. He didn't raise his hand for you, either."

Zack tried to lift his hands up, but with the huge cast, it didn't work to well. "I hate this thing. It's so huge. And the stuff in my back-that's pretty painful."

"And you can't walk?"

Zack let out a small yell of frustration and angrily shouted, "You heard the doctor! Do you think that I really want to say it? I mean, it's really fricken hard to accept it, that I can't walk. Ever. Again. That fricken stinks. I can't do track, or football. I won't even be able to jump when I play my guitar! My legs are a huge part of the crappy mess that I call my life. I can't do anything I ever wanted to anymore! My dreams have been crushed, by the breaking of my fricken back!"

"You seem really stressed, in this hospital bed."

Zack almost blew up at this remark that's answer seemed so obvious. "What's up with all these stupid questions? Yeah, I hate it, and I'm stressed. The bed is so stiff. Nurses won't leave me alone. My mom cries when she sees me. My dad won't talk, and if he does, it's always about how I never pay attention, and what it did to me. They never spend the night. It's so lonely. And my brother-I don't think that he even knows. He's on a trip with the tennis team. My mom doesn't have the guts to contact him and tell him what happened. I feel alone and upset, and no one comes to visit me. That makes it worse."

"Dude, Kristi came to see you, and-"

"I have said this one million times, and I'll say it again. I didn't want to see her, I don't like her."

Freddy bit his lip, trying to hold in the nasty words he didn't want to say. He managed to do that, and said, "Don't say that. You never let me finish. I also came to see you. Doesn't that mean any thing?"

Zack closed his eyes as he said, "Should it? Maybe I hit my head really hard in the accident, 'cause it doesn't mean anything. You went behind my back, and asked Kristi out. You started a fight with me. You raised your hand for her, so I was thrown out of the band. I still don't see why I would have wanted to see you."

Freddy stood up, feeling really hurt. "I thought you were my best friend, and then you would have been glad to see me. I guess I wrong about both of those things." He left the room, leaving Zack really confused about everything that had just happened.

Freddy found Kristi sitting on the floor in the hallway. Together, they started down to the hospital cafeteria, both silent. They met up with Dewey half way. He looked confused when he saw their upset faces. Kristi said, "C'mon, let's go."

As she walked past, he said, "What's the rush? I haven't even gotten to talk to Zack yet."

Freddy grabbed his arm and dragged him along. "Believe me man, you don't want to."

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Kristi threw open Dewey's apartment door. "He said some really rotten, selfish things," she told him. "I couldn't stand to see his face again."

Dewey walked in after her. "I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"He's been saying crap like that for weeks, Dewey. I can't stand him anymore."

"Do you really mean what you're saying?" Dewey asked as he went over to his phone to check if there were any messages.

Kristi was about to reply, but Dewey said, "Wait a second; I have to hear this message."

She sat down on her bed as he played the message. They were both shocked as to who left the message, and what it said.

"Hi Dewey, its Lawrence. Even thought you're not here, we need to talk. About what happened. I don't think that Zack should have left the band. He left because Kristi is playing, and slowly taking over the band. Even though it sounds crazy, it's true. Her coming cost us our best player. I say we kick her out of the band. Then Zack can come back. I don't like her, and I think that the band might side with me. We need to have an emergency band meeting, to decide what to do. Call me back when you get home. Thanks, bye."

"What a message," Dewey said as he looked at Kristi. It looked like she didn't care. "You look like it didn't bother you."

"It kind of did," she replied. "But I'm leaving next week, so it really wouldn't matter."

"But Zack can't play, and we have that big gig. I can't play for that."

"What big gig?" Kristi asked.

"I was going to tell everyone about at the next practice. A really famous band, whose hometown is our town, is having a concert here next week. The band that was going to open for them had to cancel. They want us to play, since we are really good, and we are from this town, too. I don't know any of the lead guitar music. We have to have you there, since Zack can't play. Or we'll stink really bad."

"Well, hopefully no one will side with Lawrence."

"Yeah," was all Dewey could say.

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Everyone filed into Dewey's apartment. There was no need for an emergency band meeting; there was already a band practice scheduled for that night. Kristi said hi to everyone as they came, except for Lawrence. She just glared at him, and then went sit on a guitar amp. Kristi figured that there was no need to plug in her guitar, since she might get kicked out. Everyone was silent, which was strangely odd.

"Why's no one talking?" Dewey asked to break the silence.

"It's just weird, that Zack's not here," Alicia said.

"Katie and Marta aren't here either," Tomika added. "I wonder why that is."

"Well, we can't wait for them," Lawrence said. "Dewey, don't you have something to talk to us about?"

"Yes, I do," he replied. He told the band about the concert. They were really excited.

After a few minutes of talking about the concert, Lawrence said, "I thought you were going to tell them about kicking Kristi out of the band."

"What?" Freddy asked. "Why would we do that?"

"She bothered Zack, so he left. Zack is so much better than her, her guitar playing sounds a lot different. And in a bad way."

"No it doesn't," Freddy objected. "Her guitar is supposed to sound a little different, that's all. It's the way it's tuned. And she's just as good as Zack."

"No, he's way better," Tomika said. "I hate to break it to you Kristi, but you aren't half as good as he was. I'm siding with Lawrence. You just upset Zack and made him feel unwelcome."

"Same here, I'm siding with Lawrence," Alicia said.

Kristi, Dewey, and Freddy were shocked and confused. Those three knew the least about Kristi, and they wouldn't even give her a chance.

Lawrence looked around. "It looks like she's out. Its three kids against one. Kristi and Dewey don't count, since Dewey's an adult, and Kristi's the one that were voting about."

"But that's not fair!" Freddy and Dewey cried.

"Everyone isn't here!" Freddy added.

Dewey was just about to tell them about how he probably wasn't going to be able to learn all of the lead guitar music when Katie came in.

"Sorry I'm late. I went to the hospital to see Zack," she said.

"Was he alright?" Tomika asked.

"Well, sure. He was really glad to see someone, and he was extremely cheerful. I had a good visit."

"That's surprising," Kristi said. "He was really grumpy when Freddy, Dewey, and I stopped in for a visit. I wouldn't want to go back up there, even if my life depended on it."

Freddy thought, _She sounds just as nasty as he did._

"What about Marta?" Dewey said. "Was she up there with you?"

Katie shook her head as she got out her bass guitar. "I'm afraid not. You see, her dad was one of the guys who hit Zack. She said that she couldn't face his friends, because of what her dad did. And her dad had to go to a court thing; he might have to be arrested for hitting Zack. So she had to go with."

"That's too bad," Lawrence said. "But what about Kristi?" He filled Katie in on voting Kristi out.

"I don't want her out. She's one of my best friends, and we'd need her for the concert."

"It's tied, then," Alicia said.

"No, she's out," Lawrence gleefully said.

"How so?" Katie asked. She was getting really upset.

"Zack would probably be on our side," Lawrence explained. "And Marta's not here. Sorry, but it's for the best."

"Fine," Kristi said as she ran out of the room and into where her bed was. She pulled the curtains shut and didn't want to be near anyone.

No one wanted to practice, so everyone eventually left. Kristi just sat on her bed, lost in her thoughts.

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Katie sighed and looked at the clock. It was the day of the concert, which was about a week from when Kristi was kicked out of the band. She had to be at Dewey's apartment in an hour. She had decided to stop in and see Zack, but he was sleeping. She had been sitting there for fifteen minutes, and he was still sound asleep.

Zack suddenly woke up. He noticed Katie and said, "Hi. I didn't know you came in."

"I've been here for fifteen minutes," she replied.

"So, what are you doing this weekend?"

Katie smiled. "It going to be so cool. We get to play at a real concert! For this punk rock band! I'm so excited!"

"Cool. I'd be going if Kristi hadn't shown up."

"She's not going. She was kicked out of the band by Lawrence, Tomika, and Alicia."

Zack smiled and said, "Great. She totally deserved it. But who's going to play the lead stuff, since the guitarists were kicked out?"

"Dewey is trying to play the lead stuff. Hopefully we will be able to pull it off. He's not doing to good with it. But don't say that stuff about Kristi. I don't know if she did anything to you, but that's still mean of you to say that."

"She made me leave the band."

"Whatever. And if she did, can't you forget it? She wants you in the band, I know it. You won't give her-or Freddy-a chance to say sorry. You shouldn't stay mad at someone because of an accident. It was an accident-no one wanted it to happen. That's stupid to be all upset about it."

Zack sighed. "I guess you're right. But how do I tell them?"

"The band is coming to see you tomorrow, which is Saturday. You can tell them then."

"Sounds great."

"Good," Katie said as she got up. "I have to get over to Dewey's for the concert. Bye." Katie walked out of the room.

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Freddy opened Dewey's apartment door. He heard a sudden clatter coming from the kitchen. He set down the bags he was carrying and went to see what had made the noise. It was Kristi. She had dropped a large pot on the counter. She turned around to see who it was, and realized that it was Freddy.

She let out a small sigh of relief and said, "Sorry. You startled me."

"What are you doing?" Freddy asked. "And where's Dewey?"

"He went down to the van to load some guitars, amps, and stuff in the van. As for me, I'm looking for something. You startled me, and I dropped the pot."

Kristi silently put the pot back in the cupboard. As she did this, Freddy asked, "Don't I get a hug or somethin' from my girlfriend? After all, I haven't seen you in a week. At school, since it's the end of the year, we've been taking exams, and I needed to study if I wanted to be in seventh grade next year. I wish I had gotten to spend more time with you."

"Of course you do." Kristi ran over and wrapped her arms around Freddy. He went to kiss her, but Dewey came in silently, since Freddy left the door open.

As Freddy brought his lips closer to Kristi's, Dewey yelled, "So this is what you two do in your spare time!" That startled the two kids. Kristi blushed and turned away. Dewey startled laughing.

"Oh, shut up," Freddy said. "Anyway, where do you want me to put my stuff?"

"Your stuff?" Kristi questioned.

"Freddy's mom isn't home tonight," Dewey explained. "So he's going to spend the night here. I'll drop him off at his house after the band goes to visit Zack tomorrow."

"Even though I don't want to go." Freddy grabbed his bags. "I'll just set my stuff on Kristi's bed. Then I can roll out my sleeping bag on the floor next to the bed."

Kristi smiled. Seeing the dreamy look on her face, Dewey said, "Oh no. You, Freddy, will be sleeping on the couch, away from Kristi."

"Why?" she asked. She thought for a second, and then asked, "You don't think that we'd do anything, do you?"

"You can never be too sure."

"C'mon man," Freddy complained. "I'm thirteen, it's not like I'm in high school. You can trust me, and her."

"Well, whenever you two are alone, you kiss, hug, etcetera. If you two were alone, at night, with a bed insight-hey, that could be a good song-who knows what you two would do."

Kristi sighed and turned to Freddy. She said to him, "I guess he's doing this for the best. Let's just give it up, Freddy."

Freddy went over to the couch and tossed his bags down. He got his drumsticks out of one of them and started banging a rhythm on the coffee table. Kristi sat next to him. Freddy noticed that Kristi was wearing a long sleeve shirt. He asked her, "Why are you wearing a long sleeve shirt? It's really warm outside."

"I don't know, I just felt like wearing it," she replied.

Just then, the band came in the room. Freddy ran over to talk to them. Kristi just sat there, watching them talk and feeling upset. Billy passed out uniforms. Dewey gave them a little prep talk. Then everyone went to the van. Dewey was about to follow them, but Kristi stopped him. She asked, "Can I come too?"

"No," he replied. "Why would you want to?"

"To see the concert. I don't want to stay here, all alone. That would be too much like home."

Dewey gave her a confused look. "You're never home alone at your home. Someone's always there."

"Well…"

"And you can't go. I don't have the money for a ticket, and I don't have the room in that van of mine. Sorry."

Kristi sighed. She said good-bye to Dewey and sat on her bed. She watched the band leave through the window. Then she laid down on her bed, extremely bored, and stared at the ceiling, thinking absolutely nothing.

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Kristi woke up to someone rubbing her back. She flipped over on the couch to see Freddy. "Hey sleepyhead," he said.

"Hey, what time is it? How was the concert?"

"The concert was okay. We could have played a lot better. The main band was awesome. As for the time-it's ten forty-five. Dewey wants us to go to bed."

"This early?"

Dewey came in. He said to Kristi, "It's going to be a busy day tomorrow. You need your rest, even though you took a nap. What else did you do while we were gone?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Nothin', really. I just took a nap. I forgot to eat dinner."

"There's cold pizza in the fridge, help yourself," he said as he headed over to the door. "I have to go get my guitar out of the van." Dewey left the apartment.

"You look tired," Freddy said. "I'll go get you the pizza. Do you want one slice or two?"

As he walked into the kitchen, Kristi replied, "One, I'm not that hungry."

Freddy didn't reply. "Freddy, are you ok?"

Kristi got up and walked into the kitchen. Freddy was at the kitchen counter. He was looking at something on it, with a piece of pepperoni pizza in his hands. Kristi came over to him and saw what he was looking at.

A really sharp knife lying out in the open, as if it had just been used.

"What's this here for?" Freddy said. "It wasn't here before Dewey and I left. What were you doing with it?"

"Nothing, honestly," she quickly said. "I washed some dishes and put them away. He had this bread knife out to clean. Not wanting to mess with it-I don't like knives-I rinsed it off, and I guess I forgot to put it away, sorry." She picked up the knife and gently tossed in into the sink. Freddy gave her a weird look and went to set up his sleeping bag. Kristi went into the bathroom and put on a pair of pajamas with rubber ducks on them. When she came out, Freddy started snickering.

Kristi said, "What? My sister gave me these. They're my favorite. And I think they're cute, don't you?"

"Yeah, you are," he said. Dewey burst into the room as Kristi went over to Freddy.

"NO!" Dewey yelled. "None of that. It's time for bed."

Kristi jumped onto her bed. She mumbled something about not being tired, but she fell asleep as soon as she laid down on the bed. Freddy was going to strip down to his boxers, but Dewey said no. So he just kept his clothes on and went to bed.

Kristi woke up at five in the morning. It was still dark outside. She got up to go to the bathroom. As she was walking over to the bathroom, she tripped on a big object. As she sat up on the floor, she realized that it was Dewey.

"Dewey," she whispered. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"I fell asleep, I guess," he said. "What are you doing up?"

"I have to use the bathroom. Why are you sleeping on the floor?"

"I was doing laundry and watching you two. I was tired, so I guess I fell asleep."

Kristi gave Dewey a confused look. "You never do laundry. Why the sudden change?"

"It's not my clothes I'm washing, it's yours. I forgot to tell you-I've been really busy-but you are leaving for your home in California today. The plane leaves at seven in the morning. You have to get packed."

Kristi looked a little angry. "You better be kidding."

Dewey shook his head.

"But that's not fair! I don't want to go!" Dewey put his finger to his lips, since Kristi was starting to raise her voice.

He said, "Sorry about the short notice. But be quiet," he gestured to Freddy and added, "He's still sleepin'"

Kristi frowned. "What about Freddy? Is he coming to the airport, too?"

"His mom says he is a hard sleeper. I'll be back before he even knows you are gone. Now get packing, and I'll get the rest of your stuff."

Kristi started packing. She didn't notice that Freddy was stirring in his sleep. About a half an hour later, he woke up. Sun was pouring through the windows near Kristi's bed. She was packing something. And she was wearing normal clothes-a blue and black striped tee-shirt with jeans and her skull and crossbones wristband. It was six in the morning, and she wasn't in her pajamas. He walked over to her. As she shut her suitcase, he sat on her bed. She jumped a little. Freddy chuckled.

"What are you packing a suitcase for?" he asked.

"Oh, do you really want to know?" she asked, turning away.

"Yeah, sure. It's not like it's a bad thing if you spend the night at a friend's house."

"I'm not going to a friend's house," she said firmly.

"Well, then," Freddy crossly said. "Why won't you tell me?"

Kristi turned to face him. She tried to hold back her tears. "I'm going home."

Freddy looked at the floor. "Oh."

"I don't want to go back though. My home-well, it's not the best place, I guess. I would rather stay here, with you and Dewey, and the band, and my friends."

She grabbed her suitcase. "I guess I'd better go. I'll email you, and tell Katie, Summer, and Marta that I left."

Kristi brushed a tiny tear away from her eye and turned towards the door. Freddy shouted, "Wait!" She kept on going.

Freddy grabbed her wrist. She pulled her arm away. But where he was grabbing her wrist was her wristband. It slipped off, revealing a cut, almost an inch and a quarter long.

Kristi had a look of real terror on her face. "You weren't supposed to see that."

Freddy wondered what caused it. Then he remembered the wristbands and long sleeved shirts. And that she was looking for something in the kitchen. And the 'clean' knife that she threw in the sink. It all added up to one thing in his mind. "You're...you're a cutter," he stammered. "Why would you do that to yourself? Do you have problems?"

"No, I was just really upset, and maybe a little depressed. When Zack said that it was my fault-y'know, that he got hit- that was one thing. And I thought it was my fault, too. I still do. And he was really mad at me. I made him feel really bad. And I was kicked out of the band, and I wanted the band members to like me. I don't want to go home, and when I get really stressed, I sometimes do really crazy things. But it's not like it hurt really bad-"

"You need to tell Dewey and your parents."

"NO! No one can know. And you didn't let me finish-you never let me finish. And, I was afraid that, if I left, that you would want to break up with me. I like you, and I have no problem with a long distance relationship-"

Freddy looked shocked. He thought that she was going insane, is a smaller sense. "Sorry, I don't do the long distance thing. I mean, I would, if you lived across the state. But you live across the country. I live in New York, and you live in California. I like you, but you are acting really weird, and I don't like it. Sorry, but I want to keep my options open-you know, to be able to go out with other girls. Sorry."

Kristi's eyes filled with tears. "We can still be friends," he added. "You're a cool kid; I like you and all-"

"Then why would you dump me?" she asked. Not waiting for an answer she said, "Just forget it. I guess you think that it's for the best, when it's not."

Kristi brushed her hair out of her face, wiped away the tears that were falling down her cheeks, and stormed out of the room. She ran back in, only to get her guitar and amp. Freddy tried to say something, but she left. Freddy sat on her bed, thinking that he had made a huge mistake.

Kristi got into the van, where Dewey was sitting with it running.

"Let's go," she said. Dewey figured what had happened, so he didn't press the matter. They got to the airport in fifteen minutes. They went inside, and Dewey gave her her ticket.

"Your parents will be at the airport in California. You will be riding one plane all the way, by yourself. I will miss you."

They hugged. Kristi said good-bye and headed on the plane. As it flew over New York, Kristi watched the buildings pass bye. She saw the hospital that Zack was in, and that the band was going to be at it in a half an hour. She wondered if they would miss her, and if she could survive at her old home.

* * *

_So, how was it? I hope you liked it. Now if you did, or if you didn't, please click on the button labeled 'GO' on the bottom corner of the left hand side. Then, you can type me a review. If you do, I will respond and give you and invisible Dum-Dum sucker. (Even if it is a little weird, just review.) I realized that I didn't give out Dum-Dums. I am very sorry. So, you get two invisible Cream Soda Dum-Dums today. They're cream Soda because Joey Gaydos Jr. (and I) like to drink cream soda. So, here are my responses._

_Legolas-Aragorn-r-hot- I put the wristband in there because of yours-it's so cool!_

_Mellowyellow36- You're welcome, sorry I didn't post in such a long time, but I've been busy._

_Shadowfaxgal7- Thanks for the really long review, mellon nin! Could you send me the twins' address? I want to write to them too! And, u said the 'S' word. Shame on you! But I used it in the beginning of this chapter, so I can't talk._

_Fea- Thanks for the review. The walls in Freddy's room are plaster, and they break easily. And, Kristi was trying to make herself feel better._

_xORockNRollOxO- Thanks. I hope I spelled you name right. I love your story, but you haven't posted in a long time._

_Gabrielle- Yeah, Zack is my favorite character. I can't believe I hurt him._

_SweetestDreamer- Sorry this took so long to post. As for Kristi, it's okay to hate her. She's not the best, or nicest, person._

_Wow!!- Thank you. There's going to be at least fifteen chapters total, I think. And how come you sent me two identical reviews?_


	9. Home Sweet Home?

Hi everyone. I'm back! And I apologize for the really long wait. I was really busy during the end of August. There was no way possible that I could have gotten chapter nine up. But it's finally here. And, another apology. This chapter was poorly proof read by yours truly. So, if there are any errors let me know in a review. I'd greatly appreciate it. Enjoy!

But first, one more thing. In this chapter (and every other one), I use _italics_ to symbolize thoughts. So in this chapter, since there's a lot of thinking, I don't always put 'she thought' or 'he thought'. I use _italics_.

And, I decided that i'm not going to change my pen neam. I love Joey and all, but I like the name as it is. Just to let you know.

**Disclaimer: **Do I really have to keep doing this? I only own the plot and the original characters. I don't own School Of Rock, Eggo waffles, the bands that I mention, etc. I'm sure you get the idea.

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Dewey's Niece

Chapter Nine

Home Sweet Home?

Freddy, Katie and the band walked down the halls of the hospital. No one besides them had visited Zack before. Everyone, except for Freddy, was excited. He didn't want to visit Zack. In his anger and lack of directional skills, Freddy started walking down the wrong hall.

Katie noticed and said, "It's this way."

Freddy rolled his eyes and followed her, along with the rest of the band. They were all chattering excitedly.

Katie realized that he was upset and asked, "Why are you so crabby? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied.

"I know that you don't want to be here, but it will be fine."

"It's not just that, it's-"

"I'm sure that it is this visit!" she persisted as they got onto an elevator. "I think that he might be ready to apologize, so just give him a chance, ok?"

They got out of the elevator, and the door to Zack's room was on the right. Katy knocked. The same nurse that Freddy and Kristi saw came out of the room.

"I guess that you are the kids that this guy wants to see," she said when she saw eight kids standing at the door, each trying to see past the nurse and catch a glimpse of their favorite guitar player.

"Yes, can we come in?" Summer asked.

"Let me ask."

The nurse stepped in the room for a second. She quickly came out and said, "The young man in there wants to see a guy named Freddy first. Is he out here?"

"That's me," Freddy coldly replied. He didn't move. Katie gave him a gentle push forward. He walked in the room as the nurse walked out.

Zack looked much better. He still had the cast, but the bruises that Freddy gave him were basically gone. Zack actually looked happy to see him.

That made Freddy feel awful. He had been mad at his friend and had thought some pretty mean thoughts about Zack, who was happy to see Freddy. He felt like he had betrayed his buddy, which felt pretty bad. So he smiled and sat down, fully ready to apologize.

"Hi, Freddy. We need to talk," Zack said as he smiled.

"I need to tell you something, also," Freddy said as he sat down. "But you can go first."

"Alright. I just wanted to say that I am sorry. I was mean to you, and Kristi. I shouldn't have blamed the accident on you; it was an accident-which is no one's fault. And it's okay that you are going out with her. I was mad at her, so it was understandable that you asked her out. And I'm sorry about the fight. I didn't mean to give you stitches and suspension. Will you forgive me-I can't stand not talking and not being friends. Please?"

Freddy smiled and said, "Yeah, and I'm sorry too. But as for Kristi and I, we-"

Freddy was interrupted by the band, who all said, "Can we come in yet?" while pounding on the door. Without waiting for an answer, they came pouring in. Zack smiled as he saw how glad they were to see him.

After a few minutes of talking, he said, "Thanks guys, but where's Kristi? I wanted to apologize to her. Is she still mad at me? Where is she?"

"Yeah, where is she?" the band chorused. They hadn't notice that she was gone, and they were concerned. Freddy hadn't told them that they had broken up, and that she had left. He figured that this was the perfect time to do so.

"She's gone," he said.

"What?" Katie asked. "Where? Why?"

"Kristi went home," he explained. "Her parents sent her a plane ticket in the mail. She went home this morning, to California. She wanted me to tell you that she was leaving, so I just did."

"Did you...um..." Zack said, not wanting to bring up the subject.

"Yeah, we broke up, thanks for making me remember," Freddy looked down and concentrated on the awful-looking tiled floor.

Everyone was nice and didn't talk about it. They just gave small smiles and continued with their enthused babble.

"Well, I have some really good news, and I'm glad I can tell you," Zack said. He waited for people to respond, which they didn't.

"Well, spill the beans," Marco said.

He enthusiastically said, "I get to go home next week! They just have to do some more tests."

The band cheered.

"But that's not the best part," Zack continued. "The doctors think that I might be able to move my legs again! I may be able to walk!"

The band cheered even louder. They were being really supportive and nice. They decided to let Zack back into the band. They had a good time talking, joking and goofing off. After a while, Dewey decided that it was time to go. All of the kids walked out the door, except for Katie.

She walked over to Zack, who had closed his eyes since he was really tired from all of the excitement, and said, "Thanks for saying sorry to Freddy. It sounds like you mean it, and I really appreciate it. I can't stand to see you two fighting. And I am so happy that you will be able to walk again."

Zack was going to ask why his and Freddy's friendship mattered to her, but he didn't feel like it; he was exhausted. Katie waited for him to reply. Since he appeared to be asleep, she kissed him on the cheek, and then quickly ran out, shutting the door behind her.

Zack opened his eyes and realized what Katie did. He thought, _Why in the world did she do that? I guess she really does like me. I mean, the rumors were going around, but she likes me? I don't get it. Me. The unpopular guitarist. Not the cutest, not the most social kid. Why would she like me? And do I like her? Not really. She's good at the bass, but I don't know much about her and her personality. And I really don't want to. I'd rather stay single, like Freddy. I can't believe they broke up. Kristi was so nice. But when we talked in this room, she got mean-probably because of my crappy attitude. I wonder if she's mad at me. I hope not. If she comes back to New York, I wonder if she'd want to be friends._

That was enough thinking for Zack. He closed his eyes again and took a nap.

* * *

Kristi stared out of the plane's window, watching the tiny trees pass by slowly. She didn't like planes a lot. She put down the shade and rested her head on it. It had been a really bad morning. She had hoped that Freddy would want to try the long distance relationship, hoping that it would last, but he didn't. Kristi choked back a few tears. 

Just then a flight attendant came by. She asked, "Would you like any snacks or anything?"

"No thanks, I'm fine," Kristi replied as the flight attendant walked off.

Kristi put up the shade and looked out of the window, thinking about what she had left behind. She thought, _I'm glad I am out of New York. All of the painful things that happened there are behind me now. But I am going to miss Katie, Marta, and Summer. I don't have as many friends like that in California. Just Stephanie._

Stephanie Thomas had been Kristi's best friend since the first day of kindergarten. They were always there for each other. They had slumber parties and pool parties all the time. And when they fought, they fights only lasted for an hour or two. They were the best of friends. They were totally different, though. Stephanie was self conscious, while Kristi could care less about what people thought about her. Stephanie loved country music artists like The Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain; Kristi loved rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Green Day. Stephanie's favorite colors were pale blue and light purple, and Kristi liked hot pink and black. But they both loved boys and Oreo flurries.

_I wonder if she's missed me while I was gone. I've missed Stephanie. Maybe she's got a new boyfriend-she gets a different one almost every week. I can't wait to tell her about Freddy._ She sighed. Trying to forget about him was so difficult._ I'll have to tell her about the band, and Zack. Zack was really nice, and he's a great guitar player. He's so much better than me, since I hardly practice, but that's because my parents hate the guitar._

She thought about Zack, she couldn't help it._ I wonder if he's mad at me. I hope not. If I go back to New York, I wonder if he'd want to be friends._

"We will be in California in an hour," a voice called over the intercom.

Kristi frowned. She didn't really want to go back home. Back at her house, things weren't very fun. Her parents weren't the best parents out there, even though everyone liked them. Kristi thought that it was because they were important and famous.

Kristi's mom, who's name was Vivian, was a famous movie-star. She also produced and wrote a few screenplays for some other good movies. She was never home. And when she was, she had an attitude that Kristi called 'the crappy movie-star attitude.' Her mom always insisted on making everything perfect, and everything had to be new. She bought a new car every year, and didn't like it when Kristi kept old notes, pictures, and drawings. And she was quite a neat freak. Vivian never spent much time with Kristi, either. They never did anything together as a family. Everyone ate at different times, and it was usually fast food or TV dinners. Kristi didn't like that, and it was one reason why she didn't want to go home.

Kristi's dad, Timothy, was a little different. He was a manager at Microsoft. He was almost always gone on a business trip to the main building. When he was home he always would talk about his company. When he wasn't talking about his company, he was lecturing Kristi about her attitude, and her schoolwork. Her dad was in charge of the home schooling in her house. He would leave out a sticky-note telling her what to do for the day. If Kristi didn't understand something, which would occasionally happen, he wouldn't help her out. So she would get low grades. He always complained about her attitude, her clothes, her favorite style of music, and her friends. Timothy would always say, "You can do much better than that." Sometimes that would bring her to tears, which was another reason she didn't want to go home.

The only thing that Kristi was looking forward to was seeing her sister, Veronica. She would call her Ronnie out of affection. Ronnie was the perfect older sister. She would help Kristi with the schoolwork their dad wouldn't help them with. Next year, Ronnie would graduate from high school. Their parents would send them back to a public school for high school. Ronnie was pretty, smart, and fun to hang around. She wanted to be a cosmetologist when she graduated. She would practice on Kristi. Kristi loved having her hair French braided and highlighted. She liked it when her sister did her make-up, too. The two sisters were extremely close when their ages were so far apart. They would tell each other anything and everything. When they had problems, they would turn to each other. Kristi loved having Ronnie there to comfort her when she was upset.

Kristi sat and waited for the flight to end. After sixty long minutes, the plane landed. Kristi got up out of her seat, exited the plane, and went into the airport. It was very crowded. Kristi looked around for her parents. She couldn't see them. Were they going to be there? Would she be stuck at the airport forever? If she was, would that be a bad thing?

All of a sudden, a voice could be heard coming from the back of the tiny waiting area. It was a female voice, and it was saying, "Kristi, Kristi dear, where are you?"

Kristi thought it sounded funny, and, dragging her feet, she headed over to where the sound was coming from. A crowd parted, and she saw her parents. Her mom, Vivian, was wearing a mink coat, even though it was warm outside. Her blonde hair had been curled, and she was wearing lots of make-up. She was holding a snake-skin handbag. Timothy, her dad, was wearing a black suit with a navy blue tie. As they saw Kristi, Vivian ran over and gave her a hug.

"Oh, Kristi, you are safe! I can't believe you rode a plane all by yourself," Vivian said, almost in tears.

"Alright then," Kristi said, pushing herself away. "I'm going to be thirteen in like, a week. I'm not a little kid."

"Watch what you say to your mother," Timothy monotonously said. He didn't seem as happy as his wife did. "Shall we get you luggage?"

They walked over to the luggage rack.

"So, darling, how was your stay with my insane brother?" Vivian asked Kristi as she grabbed her child's suitcase.

"His name's Dewey," Kristi coldly said. Her parents hated Dewey, it appeared. "And he isn't insane. He's pretty cool."

She picked up her guitar and her amp. She thrust the amp at her father, who reluctantly took it.

As they walked away, Kristi started to tell her parents about her stay.

"Dewey's apartment is so cool!" she told them.

"He lives in an apartment? Then he must have a low income," Timothy said as he scowled. "What kind of relatives do you have, Vivian?"

"Poor ones," his wife replied.

Kristi ignored that and continued. "It has posters of rock bands all over the walls; there are CD's stacked everywhere-he even gave me some to keep. And there are instruments everywhere; he has guitars, a drum set, and a keyboard! He even has a rock band-they don't live there of course-I got to play with them, I was in the band for awhile-until they kicked me out."

"I can see why they kicked you out," Timothy said. "You sound awful on you guitar. And a rock band? Rock music is the worst kind; no one at my office likes it-"

"Shut-up!" Kristi angrily yelled at him. Her mom gasped like her daughter had sworn at the top of her lungs. "The band said that I play really well. And rock music is the best! It beats classical music-that stuff stinks! But as for your office, those loony old creeps don't know-"

"Kristi, watch your attitude and what you say," her mother scolded.

They didn't talk anymore until they got into the car, a red Corvette. Then, when they were halfway home, Kristi asked, "Where's Ronnie?"

"Who?" said her dad, who was driving.

"Well you call her Veronica-"

"Your sister?" she mom said. "Why would you call her Ronnie? Anyway, she's at home, waiting for you."

"How come she didn't go to Dewey's with me?"

"It's 'Uncle Dewey.' She had to stay so she could take a few exams. And she didn't stay home alone; she stayed at her boyfriend Brent's house."

"Oh."

They stayed silent until they got home. Kristi's house was huge. It was a three story house. It looked normal, because all of the houses on the street where that size. Kristi's house, however, looked like a stone building. The sides were smooth and gray. The roof was flat. The windows were square. It looked weird, but Kristi liked it. Her bedroom was on the third floor, and Ronnie's was next to it. The kitchen was on the second floor, along with the den and office. Since the house didn't have a basement, all of the rooms that would be in the basement, like the game room, laundry room, and family room, were on the first floor. In the backyard of the house were a nice garden, a pool, and a hot tub. And Kristi's sister Veronica was standing at the front of the house, smiling and waiting to see her little sister.

Kristi hopped out of the car and ran towards her big sister. They hugged.

"So, how was your stay in New York?" Ronnie asked. She was wearing jeans and a purple hooded sweatshirt. Her long brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. "Did you get to go shopping in those fancy clothing stores?"

"I'll tell you inside," Kristi replied. She handed her sister her suitcase. She picked up her guitar and amp and went up to her bedroom.

Kristi's bedroom was pretty big. The walls were cream colored, but you wouldn't be able to tell because they were covered in posters of rock bands. She had a queen sized bed. In the corner was an empty guitar stand, and in the opposite corner was a closet. It was empty because all of the clothes were on the floor. The room was very messy, but that was the way Kristi liked it.

"C'mon into my room," Ronnie said. "I can redo your streaks and color the tips of your hair while you tell me about your stay."

"Sounds good."

They went into Ronnie's room. It was the opposite of Kristi's. The clothes were neatly stacked in a corner. The bed was neatly made. The walls were bare. Off to one side was a small vanity. Ronnie told Kristi to sit on the floor. She grabbed a bottle of dye and went over to Kristi.

"Couldn't that stuff ruin the carpet?" Kristi asked. "And what color is it?"

"Good point. We need a sink too, so let's go into the bathroom. And is black okay?"

Kristi nodded and they went into the bathroom. There was a bathroom on every floor. This one had a rubber-duck theme. Kristi sat on a stool next to the sink as her big sister started to work.

"So, how was it, staying with your boyfriend?" Kristi asked.

"It was okay. Of course, Brent and I slept in different rooms. And you know what? He has a little brother." She paused, smiling. "His name is Broc. Does he sound familiar?" She stared at Kristi, whose cheeks were turning pink. "I know that you like him. I just didn't know that he was my boyfriend's brother."

"How did you find out?" Kristi asked with a tinge of anger in her voice.

Ronnie laughed a little. "Stephanie told me. It slipped out of her mouth once. I told her I wouldn't tell you I found out. But, I think you might have a chance with him." She waited for Kristi to say some thing. Kristi didn't, so she continued, saying, "He would ask me all of these questions about you. One was, 'Is she single?' And-" Ronnie started to laugh. "-he sleeps with a picture of you under his pillow."

Kristi frowned. "That's not funny. I don't like him anymore."

Ronnie stopped laughing. "Why not? Are you lying to me?"

"I wouldn't lie to you."

"But he's cute for a thirteen year old. And we could go on double-dates."

"He is pretty cute, but I'm not ready for another relationship at this point in time."

"_Another_ relationship? Since when have you had a boyfriend?" Ronnie looked a little shocked.

"I had a boyfriend in New York."

"Ooooh. Spill the beans."

Kristi gave a small smile. "I'm allergic to beans."

She started telling Ronnie about her stay in New York. She told her about the two cute boys, getting pizza, the phone call to Zack, and the gig. Ronnie listened intently. She gave a small cheer when Kristi told her that Freddy asked her out. She gasped when Kristi told her about the accident. She was quiet when she told her about the hospital visit.

"What a kiss," Ronnie said when Kristi finished describing the good-bye kiss Freddy gave her on the night Zack was hurt. "Brent's never Frenched me, I don't think."

Kristi's stay took a long time to tell. Ronnie finished putting the streaks and stuff in her hair. She then sat next to Kristi and listened. Kristi was getting to what happened that morning.

She was getting upset. "And then...then...then he...he..."

Ronnie put her hand on Kristi's shoulder. "He what?" she asked, knowing what she was going to say.

Kristi wiped a tear from her eyes. "He dumped me. Because...because I live a ways away. And a miss him, I really do. And I still like him a lot." She started to cry.

Ronnie knew how Kristi felt, and she was very sympathetic. That was on reason Kristi was glad that Ronnie was her sister. She was always there when Kristi was upset, and she understood most of the problems and troubles that she had.

"Shh. It'll be okay. Just give it some time."

The two siblings quietly sat there for awhile. Then her mom walked into the bathroom. Kristi wiped her eyes and looked up at her.

"I thought that you might have missed your friends while you were gone," Vivian said. "So I picked up Stephanie and brought her over here, if you wanted to see her."

Kristi jumped up. "Stephanie's here?" She ran out of the bathroom without waiting for an answer.

Stephanie was waiting outside. She had wavy brunette hair and dark brown eyes. When Kristi ran out of the house, Stephanie ran up and gave her best friend a hug.

"Hey Kristi! Glad you're back!"

"Hi!"

Ronnie came out of the door. Stephanie hugged her too. Stephanie and Ronnie were friends, but not as close as Kristi and Stephanie.

Ronnie said, "Hey Steph. Nice to see you again. Do you want to go get ice cream? I'll pay."

Kristi cheered. They went into the garage and got into Ronnie's black BMW. She drove them to an ice cream parlor, which was less than a mile away. Ronnie got a chocolate ice cream cone, and Stephanie and Kristi got Oreo flurries. They sat at a sunlit table and enjoyed their ice cream.

"So," Stephanie said. "How was New York?"

Kristi thought for a minute. "It was pretty good. A lot of things happened. Not all of them were the nicest, but-"

Stephanie interrupted her with a squeal of delight.

"Oh my gosh!" she excitedly said. "Look who's here!"

She pointed to three boys. On was tall, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He looked like he was in high school. There was another boy; he looked exactly like the tall one, except that he was short, had glasses, and was about five years old. The last boy was almost as tall as the oldest one, but he had dirty-blond hair and blue-gray eyes. He looked like he was thirteen. He looked really familiar. When Ronnie got an excited look on her face (that was a lot like Stephanie's), Kristi realized who the thirteen year old boy was; he was the guy she used to like-Broc.

"Is that Broc?" she asked Stephanie.

Stephanie gave her a quizzical look. "Of course." Stephanie was practically in love with Broc. She talked about him all the time, and she dreamed about him at night. Kristi used to be the same, but after she went out with Freddy, she really didn't like him anymore.

"Who's the little guy?" Kristi asked.

"His brother Brody. The big one is his other brother-"

"Brent. He's going out with me," Ronnie said. "I'm going to go over and talk to him."

"Make sure Broc doesn't come over here-I don't want him to talk to me," Kristi said.

Ronnie nodded. As she walked away, Stephanie turned to her best friend and said, "Are you insane? It's every girls dream to speak to him. Don't you like him?"

"Not anymore-" Kristi was cut off as Broc walked over. She turned to look at Ronnie, who mouthed, "I couldn't stop him. Sorry."

"Hey, Kristi," Broc said in his smooth, sweet voice. Stephanie had a dazed look on her face. "I've missed you-It's good that your back."

Kristi gave a very small, very forced smile. Stephanie smiled and said, "Yeah, I missed her too."

Broc sat down near Kristi and said, "So, Kristi. Maybe we could go to a movie-y'know, me and you, as a date. Want to?"

Kristi sighed. She gave a weak smile to the anxious looking Broc and said, "Wow. You must've practiced saying that, because you never stuttered. Every guy that's asked me out has stuttered or gotten tongue tied or something. But, to answer your question, no." Stephanie gasped. "I couldn't, I'm not ready. You wouldn't understand. Sorry."

"But I'll go to the movies with you," Stephanie quickly said.

"That's okay," Broc said as he walked away.

"But you didn't answer me!" Stephanie called out. He just walked away and ignored her.

She turned to Kristi and said, "What did you do that for? You just turned down a really hot guy!"

Ronnie came back to the table and said, "He asked you out?"

"And how would you know?" Stephanie asked Ronnie. She turned to Kristi and asked her, "And why would you turn him down, I ask again."

Kristi somberly said to Ronnie, "You tell her the story. I don't want to relive the pain, since I still like Freddy."

"Who's Freddy?"

"I'll tell you," Ronnie said. She told Stephanie the story.

Stephanie gave her best friend a sympathetic look and said, "I'm so sorry. He sounded so nice."

"He was."

"But," Ronnie asked. "Did you get to go to any fancy clothing stores?"

"No. The only store I went to was Hot Topic. And I got this really cool shirt there."

* * *

After they dropped Kristi's best friend off, her and her sister went home. When they got there, Kristi went into her room and locked the door. Then she grabbed her suitcase and began emptying it. She just threw the clothes and other stuff on the floor. Then it was empty, except for some stuff that she had gotten in New York.

For a while, Kristi just put up posters that she had taken from Dewey's apartment. She plastered a Ramones poster above her bed. She hung a Led Zeppelin poster next to her Orlando Bloom one. Then, she worked on organizing her CDs. Dewey gave her a bunch of CDs of her favorite groups, like GreenDay, Simple Plan, Yellowcard, and bands like that. She had all of her CDs alphabetized in her guitar shaped CD holder.

Kristi thought that she had everything out her suitcase, so she tipped it over. A bunch of pictures came fluttering out of it.

"Oh, I forgot that Katie gave me those," she said out loud to herself.

She got out some more poster putty and went to hang the pictures up by her bed.

Kristi picked up the first one. It was a picture that Summer had taken with Katie's camera while that band was performing at the competition that Kristi played in. _We really looked awesome,_ she thought. The next two where taken before the concert. One was with Kristi, Summer, Marta, and Katie. They were goofing off and having a good time. After she put that one up on her wall, Kristi looked at the last one. It was of Freddy and Zack. They were trying to cover up their faces, but she could still see them. And it made Kristi a little angry to see them. She was angry that Freddy had dumped her, and that Zack didn't want to have anything to do with her before she left. Out of anger, Kristi ripped the picture and yelled, "I hate them!"

The pieces of the picture fell to the ground, next to another object that Kristi had left in the suitcase.

A knife.

Kristi had stolen it from Dewey's kitchen counter. Her parents didn't have many sharp knives. How else would she be able to cut herself?

Kristi picked up the knife and looked at it. _I know that it's bad for myself, _she thought. _But I don't want to stop._

Kristi pressed the knife to her wrist, slightly dragging it through her skin. Then, someone knocked on her door. It startled Kristi so badly that she jerked the knife, and it cut the palm of her hand. She dropped the knife and cursed under her breath as she went to the door. Holding her bleeding hand behind her back, she unlocked the door and wrenched it open. It was Ronnie.

Kristi quickly went over to her bed and sat on it. "Gosh Ronnie, you startled me."

"Sorry," Ronnie quickly replied. "Listen-" She then stared down at something on the floor and said, with a hint of shockness in her voice, "Is that a knife on your bedroom floor?"

"No," Kristi said as she kicked the knife under her bed. The blood smeared, and she knew that it would never come out of the tan carpet.

"Okay, but if you are considering eating tonight, I might get your food now. Mom and Dad look like they're going to fight of somethin'."

"Thanks for the warning," Kristi said as her sister left the doorway. She grabbed a Kleenex and wiped her hand up. Neither of the cuts were very deep. She grabbed a few more Kleenexes and headed downstairs to the kitchen, wondering what her parents would say if they saw that she was a cutter. Would they hopefully think that the cut was made on accident?

Kristi ran down the stairs and into her kitchen. It was a small room, with green walls and sunflowers everywhere. She sneaked around pass the island to the cupboard. As she pulled out a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli, she heard her parents' loud voices echoing from the dining room. Since it was connected to the kitchen, Kristi could crouch behind the island and listen and see them perfectly.

"What are you talking about? I don't understand." It was Kristi's mom's voice. It sounded like she was trying to keep her voice down when she wanted to scream.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about," her dad replied in a much louder, much angrier voice. "You never have time for me anymore. You're always busy with movies and stuff. The only time that we have spent together was that vacation."

_So they really are having a little marriage trouble, _Kristi thought as she peered over the island, the ravioli can on the floor.

"We were together when we had supper today." Vivian's voice was very tiny.

"Alone time. You have never had any time for us since we had Kristi. And that was a total waste of my time, because I hate that little piece of garbage."

Kristi blinked back tears. She knew that he never really liked her, and she never really liked him. She looked to the left and saw that her already bloody hand was sitting on a cactus. Kristi moved her hand and started to pull the needles out of her hand, while her parents kept on arguing. She wiped off tears of pain and continued listening.

"Tim, she isn't a piece of garbage. She's a nice, sweet girl who-"

SMACK. Kristi looked up from her red hand to see her mom with her hand to her face, eyes wide with shock. Her dad was just standing there with a blank expression that quickly turned into an angry one.

"You actually like that little twerp! I can't believe you. You would rather spend time with her than with me!"

Vivian had tears in her eyes. "I never said that. And I will admit that, yes, I am really busy, but when I have free time, you don't. You're busy too, y'know."

There was another smack and a loud thud. Kristi gasped as Vivian hit the floor.

"Don't blame me for anything," Timothy boomed. His face was getting redder and redder. He was so angry that he decided to put his foot up against his wife's thigh.

Kristi winced and turned away as her mother let out little screams. She couldn't take it anymore. She ran up to her room without her supper, tears filling her eyes.

She jumped onto her bed, blood splattering onto her hot pink and black flame comforter. She buried her face into her pillow cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Kristi opened her eyes. Sunshine was streaming into the room. It must've been noon. She sat up and noticed that her comforter was stained from the blood. The bleeding had stopped, but blood was on her clothes as well.

Kristi ran over to her closet, grabbed some clothes, and went into the bathroom, to shower and get dressed. She came out wearing different clothes. She had on black, baggy pants and a white long-sleeved shirt with a Ramones tee-shirt over it. She dove onto her bed and grabbed her guitar. She laid back and absentmindedly strummed it. That was what she did when she was a little upset. And she was upset; she just found out that her dad beats her mom. When she was happy she would be standing up and playing rock music and jumping around her room.

Someone knocked on the door to Kristi's room. She yelled, "Come in," and in stepped her parents.

Her mom looked considerably good, since she was beaten up last night. She had used lots of makeup to cover up any bruises, and she was wearing a long sleeved sweatshirt. Her dad had a straight face and was regretfully holding something behind his back.

"Oh, it's you." Kristi stopped playing and looked up. "Whaddaya want?"

"Well," Vivian said in a shaky voice. "Your birthday is in a week, and we," she gestured to herself and her husband, "will be gone. He will be at Microsoft, and I will be on a set of a movie I am producing. Veronica will be here, though. But, we want to give you your present."

Vivian nudged Timothy, who, even though he didn't want to, pulled, out from behind his back, a new electric guitar.

"Oh my gosh!" Kristi ran forward and grabbed it. "It's that black Epiphone that I've always wanted! The one with the orange and yellow flames running up the base of the guitar. And, you got that strap with flames on it! Thanks a bunch!"

She jumped onto the bed and began to play. As she did, Vivian grabbed Kristi's other guitar. Kristi stopped playing and looked up.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Oh. Well," Vivian started. "You have a nice, new guitar. So you don't need this old one. I was going to dispose of it." She gave a small smile and started to edge out of the room.

"NO!" Kristi shrieked. She jumped off of her bed and snatched the electric guitar right out of her mother's hands. "I can have more than one guitar!"

"Not if we say you can't," Timothy said. He tried to take the guitar, but Kristi stepped away.

"You people are so mean! I won't let you take it away!" She set her guitar down with care, and then pushed her parents out the door. She could her them angrily conversing as they walked down the hall.

Kristi was really confused. _Why do they want to take my guitar away? Its mine, and I like it._ She turned to her black guitar and started playing it. To her, it just wasn't the same. The blue guitar was given to her by Ronnie, when she was ten. Ronnie had gotten her first job, and had saved all of her money to get that guitar for her sister. And the black one; it was given to her by two mean people. After a few minutes, Kristi picked up the sparkly blue one and played it for most of the morning.

* * *

Everyone, except Zack, was sitting in Dewey's apartment. School had let out yesterday. And today was Saturday, and no one knew what to do. It was really hot outside, so everyone was in tank tops and shorts, except for Freddy. He was in a black hooded sweatshirt, and was sitting against the window.

"Man, this place it hot," Summer said as she folded some music into a fan and used it to attempt to cool herself off.

"It's not my fault that I don't get air conditioning," Dewey told them. "So, what do you want to do?"

"The symphony's playing at the concert hall," Lawrence informed the band.

"Too sissy," Freddy said, and he turned back to look at the window.

"Anyone got a swimming pool?" Alicia asked. She and Tomika were lying on the floor next to the tiny and only electric fan.

Katie gave a weak smile. "My mom works at a hotel. They have a huge pool there. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we went for a swim."

Everyone cheered.

"Alright," Dewey smiled. "You can go home and change into your swimsuits, and I will pick you up at your houses."

As they all left, Freddy went up to Dewey and said, "Um, is it alright if I skip the pool party thing?"

"Why would you want to?"

"I dunno. I just don't want to."

"Alright man. See you later."

Freddy ran out of the door. In his hurry, he knocked over Marta. She, Katie, and Summer were going to wait for him. Katie and Freddy were best friends, and sometimes they walked home together. Katie helped Marta up and followed Summer after Freddy.

"Freddy, wait!" Katie called after him. He ignored her.

"What's his problem?" Summer asked. "He's been really out of it today?"

"But, he's kinda cute when he's 'out of it'," Marta said out loud to herself. That made Summer and Katie stop dead in their tracks.

"What," Marta asked, staring at her friends.

"So, you like Freddy, then?" Summer asked. She didn't think that too many people would like Freddy. He'd been acting really weird the past week.

"Of course she does, Summer," Katie said smiling. "She's been checking him out since we started this whole band thing. And she blushes a little when he talks to her," she looked at Marta, and then asked, "How come you never told us? We're your best friends."

"What about Frankie?" Summer demanded.

"I don't like him anymore. I like Freddy. Well, I never realized that I really liked him. And when I did, he asked Kristi out. And I didn't want her to know that I liked her boyfriend. I mean, ex-boyfriend."

Marta frowned and looked at the ground. Everyone was silent, until Summer yelled, "I got it!"

When her friends asked what she was talking about, Summer said, "He's been really weird since last Saturday. That's when he broke up with Kristi. I mean, you can't really keep a relationship when you are thousands of miles away. He's really upset, and I'm sure that Kristi is too."

"I wonder how she's doing in California, since she didn't seem too psyched to go there," Marta said, looking up from the cement. "Maybe we should write her. What do you think, Katie?"

"Well, her birthday's next week. We could send her a present."

"Good idea," Summer replied. "Let's go." So they split up and walked to their houses.

* * *

Summer was slowly passing. Kristi lay sprawled on her bed, bored. Stephanie was on a vacation in Mexico, and her parents were leaving the next day from their jobs. That was the only good thing. And it was Kristi's birthday a few days after that.

It was eleven, and Kristi decided to get some breakfast. She went to the second floor. On the way to the kitchen, she passed her dad's office. She wouldn't have normally stopped and looked in, but she saw something of hers in there.

Her blue electric guitar.

"Hey dad." He didn't respond. Kristi walked into his office. His digital camera was out, and he was in the internet. When she came in, he minimized the screen and snapped, "What do you want?"

"Chill," she replied coolly. "What do you want with my guitar?"

"Nothing, nothing," he lied. "Go ahead and take it, just take it."

"I know that you're lying." She said as she grabbed her guitar and turned away. But she poked into the room and said, "I also know what mean, painful, things that you do to my mother."

Kristi ran into the kitchen and saw her mom in there.

"Hi Mom, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing sweetie."

Kristi frowned slightly. She went into the freezer and went to get out the Eggo waffle box, but her mother grabbed it.

"I'll make them for you Kristi. I need to talk to you while they toast."

Kristi sat on a dark green bar stool at her white island and listened to her mother.

"You see, the movie that I am producing is a comedy," Kristi sighed because she hated her mother's long speeches on what the movie was about, "It is about two teachers. One teaches ballet and is a 'prep'; the other teaches guitar lessons and is a 'punk'. The movie is about their conflicts. And, as a producer, I figured out that we need lots of extras for the kids that both teachers teach. And I signed you up to be an extra, on the side that I know that you will love the side that you'll be on. You can leave with me tomorrow."

Just as her waffle did, Kristi jumped up and cheered, "I'm gonna be a punk rocker!"

Her mom looked really confused. "No," Kristi's face fell as her mom said, "You are going to be a ballet girl. Doesn't it sound like fun?"

"Well..." Kristi tried to find the words that she wanted. "I think that I want to stay home, y'know, for my birthday. Thanks anyway."

Vivian frowned. She loved it when her kids came to the set, and Kristi had hurt her feelings. "If...if you, you really want to st-stay here, then that's...that's okay with me, I-I guess." She left the room.

Kristi just sat at her barstool at the island. She stared at her waffle and said out loud, "I hate my life."

* * *

I hope you guys liked it. So, send me a review with any questions, comments, errors, etc. I love to hear from you guys. And girls. Actually, I think only girls read this. But I don't know, and I don't care.

For chapter eight, there were four reviews. I cherish every one, but I'd like more than that for this chap. So please, please tell me what you think. And, if you do, you get an invisible cotton candy Dum-Dum. I don't know in anyone likes them, but that's okay. Tell me what flavors you like, I'm running out of ones to give out.

**Shadowfaxgal7- **Thanks for the review. Sorry about the pirate thing, and I can't remember the error I saw in your awesome story. I wonder if you can remember the review. I can't. But you know my memory.

**Mellowyellow36-** Thanks. Joey's favorite pop is Jones' Cream Soda. It was served at his gig at club 23. I kept the bottle. And the paper plate that his cake was on. It still has some frosting on it!

**Legolas-Aragorn-r-hot-** Gracias. I hope you don't mind 'sadder' stories, 'cause this one is DEFINITELY going to get 'sadder'.

**Megz- **Thanks. If you didn't know, I love Freddy and Zack equally. I love them too much, otherwise they's be dead. It's fun to write angst, in my humble opinion. So, I don't think you're 'twisted', as you put it.


	10. Runaway

_

* * *

Hi everyone. Sorry for the LONG delay. School has taken up a lot of my time, and I've had two instruments to practice. I'm really sorry. But, to make it up to you, I've made a long chapter. So I'll let you read it. I'm sure you don't like the long author intros._

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own School Of Rock, Burger King, Slice,Good Charlotte, GreenDay, YellowCard, any trains, any Gibson Guitars (I do own an Ibanez, though), and many more things I mentioned. I put in an email address, and if it's yours, I'm sorry._

* * *

Dewey's Niece

Chapter Ten

Runaway

It had been a pretty bad week for Kristi. She would always complain to her sister, since her parents had left. Ronnie thought that she was over-reacting, but Kristi insisted that it was going to be a rotten summer. When their parents left, Kristi and Ronnie just hung out around their huge house. But when Ronnie had a date with Brad, Kristi would just sit in her room, alone. Brad's little brother Broc kept asking Kristi out, but she always turned him down. She still was a little upset about her break-up with Freddy.

It was a very hot Monday. Kristi was laying on her bed listening to a Red Hot Chili Peppers CD. She had rolled up the sleeves of her black Happy Bunny hoodie, and was moving her foot to the beat. There was a soft knock on her door.

"Come in," she called as she turned down the music.

Ronnie stepped in and said, "Hey little sis. I'm goin' to the store. Ya want anything?"

"Na, I'm good."

"Okay," Ronnie said as she stepped out of the door.

Kristi had just turned the music back up when Ronnie stepped into the room again.

"Now what, Ronnie?" she whined.

"Sorry. I forgot to ask you what kind of cake you wanted."

Kristi sat up. "Cake?" she repeated in confusion.

"Yep, cake. Remember, it's your birthday tomorrow. Even though Mom and Dad aren't going to be here, I still thought that we could get a small cake. What flavor d'ya want?"

"Marble, with chocolate frosting," she said. As her sister left, she added, "Oh, do we have any vanilla ice cream? 'Cause if we don't, could you get some?"

Ronnie called yes, and Kristi turned up her music again. She had completely forgotten her birthday. It would be weird, because it was only Ronnie and her. And she would only get one present. That's because she didn't have any living relatives, except for her mom, dad, sister, and Dewey. And Stephanie wasn't going to be able to come. Even though she was turning thirteen, Kristi wasn't really looking forward to her birthday. She just turned up her music even louder, and tried to forget about the next day.

* * *

Kristi woke up to her sister, mom, and dad shouting, "Happy Birthday!" 

"Mom, Dad, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"We decided to come home early and celebrate your birthday, since we love you so much," her dad said. Kristi never thought that her dad would want to celebrate anyone's birthday, including hers. And did he just say that he loved her 'so much'?

"Cool," Kristi said, not knowing what else to say.

"Ooh, guess what?" Vivian asked. Without waiting for an answer, she added, "All of your friends are waiting for you downstairs! They came all of the way from New York to see you and to celebrate your birthday."

At those words, Kristi jumped out of her bed and ran to the second floor. She had been missing all of her ex-band mates. All of her friends were in the living room. Katie gave Kristi a hug as Marta gave her a yellow Gibson Les Paul electric guitar. Kristi accepted it gladly, even though it was a weird color. Suddenly, someone called out her name. Kristi turned around and noticed that it was Freddy, who ran up to Kristi gave her a very passionate kiss.

"I've missed you so much," he said when he was done kissing the shocked teen. "I couldn't stand not seeing you. Our breaking up was a terrible mistake. I want to forget that we broke up and try this long distance relationship. Is that okay?"

"No," said a voice. The band stepped aside, and there was Broc, who was scowling. "I like Kristi, and she's going out with me."

Freddy pulled himself out of his and Kristi's embrace.

"No, I'm not!" she cried out. She tried to step closer to Freddy, but he backed away looking hurt and disgusted. "Don't listen to him!"

"So you took my girlfriend," Freddy said through gritted teeth. He pushed Broc, who was looking just as angry. Everyone backed away, because when Freddy was mad, he was really mad. Broc, who was shorter than Freddy and was really quite clueless, shoved Freddy back. Broc mumbled something to him that sounded like stop, some swearwords, and Freddy's name.

"What did you say? Freddy asked.

"Nothing," Broc mumbled. He was then grabbed by the collar of his nice, expensive light blue polo.

Freddy, whose face was getting redder every second, yelled, "What did you say?!"

"Just...just that you are one rotten piece of crap, and that Kristi never will deserve a guy like you," the timid boy said. It was a very brave thing for him to say to the angry teenager that was attempting to strangle him.

But before Kristi could say or do anything to stop him, Freddy tightened his grip on Broc and threw him into the large and elegant fireplace.

Kristi muttered to herself, "Since when do we have a fireplace?"

But she then noticed that the wood in it was burning, and that Broc was on fire. He rolled out onto the floor, howling in pain. Then he stopped. He didn't move, or respond to Kristi's voice calling his name from across the room.

Freddy had killed Broc. Broc was dead.

The orange and yellow flames spilled out onto the carpet. They spread really fast. Everyone ran out of the room, terrified. Everyone except for Freddy and Kristi.

"Freddy, come on!" Kristi shrieked. The floor boards were creaking from stress, and the felt like they could break any second. But Freddy was just standing there, looking amused at the fire.

"Come on!" She was about to go in and get him when a board from the third story crashed down on him. With a bloodcurdling shriek, Ronnie fell from the floor above, onto a screaming Freddy. Kristi turned away, holding back tears as Freddy's yells slowly stopped. Only then did she look back into the room at Ronnie, and was horrified at what she saw.

It was a gruesome site. Blood was all over her cheeks. Her long brown hair was crimson and singed. Her lip was cut, and her eyes were closed. Her face and arms were unnaturally pale. She looked...dead.

Kristi screamed and cried. She ran to her sister, not caring that the room was engulfed in flames. She shook her sister and muttered, "Ronnie, wake up! Ronnie!" Nothing happened.

Kristi heard a shriek and looked up. She saw a flaming portrait of her mother come crashing down on her legs. Within seconds, they had caught her blue plaid pajama pants on fire. It was a pain like no other, and such an awful burning feeling. Tongues of fire went to her knees as she screamed and cried. She was being burned alive.

Suddenly she was being shaken. A familiar voice called out, "Kristi!"

"Ronnie!" she choked out. She couldn't see, the smoke was so thick. Flames were going to her chest as she called out, "Your dead!"

A board crashed onto her back. She closed her eyes in pain and wished to die. The room bright orange and yellow room turned to black. Her eyes were forcefully closed. She opened them, and there was her sister. The blackness turned into a familiar room.

Kristi sat up and screamed. She looked at her sister in shock and said, "Ronnie! You're supposed to be dead! Am I dead too? Is this...heaven?"

Ronnie, who was sitting on the edge of Kristi's bed, smirked and said, "No, silly. You had a really bad dream. You were yelling and screaming, and you almost fell off of your bed."

Kristi wiped her forehead, which was all sweaty. "Oh, okay," she whispered.

"Okay." Ronnie gave a small smile. "Then I'm gonna go and finish wrapping your present. You can shower, get dressed, and then meet me downstairs."

Ronnie turned to leave, but stopped and said, "Oh, by the way, happy birthday."

* * *

"Honestly, when are you going to come down? You've been up there for hours!" 

"Never!" Kristi shrieked. "Not with _him _coming over!"

She heard Ronnie let out a loud moan and thump something heavy on the kitchen table. Then she looked into her mirror.

Kristi's half shut blue eyes had bright red streaks underneath them, since she hadn't slept well last night. Her pink lip gloss was smeared across her face. She let out a yawn and reached for her Mountain Dew can. "There nothing that a little makeup and Mountain Dew can't fix," she mumbled to herself.

A half an hour later, Ronnie opened the door without knocking and ran right into Kristi, who was fixing her hair with the mirror on the back of her door. Ronnie looked at Kristi for a second, then said, "You don't look too bad; you didn't need to shut yourself into your room for a while over that."

Kristi had on some fitted blue jeans with a hot pink studded belt. She had on a black baby tee with Happy Bunny on it which read, 'You're Icky'. She had on no socks, but her toenails and fingernails were painted black and hot pink. She also had black streaks in her hair, and the tips were hot pink. She redid her makeup, and added some eyeliner and blue-gray eye shadow.

"Thanks," Kristi replied and smiled.

There was a small silence, in which Kristi sat on her bed and Ronnie paced around the room.

"So," Ronnie said. "They're gonna be here any minute. We should probably go downsta-"

"NO!" Kristi folded her arms, crossed her legs and sat there stubbornly on her bed.

Ronnie let out a loud, obvious sigh. "You're acting so stupid. I don't see what your problem is, it's just-"

"It's not just your boyfriend coming over. Broc's coming over, too. I hate Broc, and he loves me. I just don't want to be asked out again. He is so stupid-it'll be the fourth time this week. Can't he take no for an answer?" Kristi kicked over a trash can in her anger. Empty Mountain Dew and Slice cans rolled out onto the floor.

"They won't be over here for more that an hour and a half. I just thought that you might want to be with some people that you knew on your birthday. I wouldn't want to be by myself on my thirteenth birthday."

There was more silence.

"Alright Ronnie," Kristi said as she got up. "You win. I'll go down there for a while, but don't make them stay there longer then they have to, or I think I'll die."

She followed her sister to the second floor and into the dining room. Ronnie had decorated it with streamers, balloons, and a banner that read, 'Happy 13th Birthday Kristi!!' There was, just like Kristi wanted, a marble cake with chocolate frosting. Next to it was three boxes. One was a small rectangular box, the second was a little larger, and the third box was humongous. Kristi went over to grab it, but Ronnie stopped her.

When she asked why, her big sister said, "You have to wait until our guests arrive. But," she added, "It's from New York."

That made Kristi smile for the first time all day.

But the smile didn't last long. As soon as Ronnie had said 'New York', the doorbell rang. Kristi didn't move, so Ronnie said, "I'll get it," and went downstairs to the door.

She just stood in the hallway and listened to her sister. She had said hi to Brad and Broc, and then told him that Kristi was in the kitchen. Kristi tried to make a run for it, but Broc had been halfway up the stairs when Ronnie had given him that crucial information. Kristi was almost halfway up the stairs leading to her room when Broc saw her.

Kristi had to admit that Broc was looking kind of cute. His dirty blonde hair was spiked up. It reminded her or Freddy's hair. He was wearing khaki pants, and a light blue shirt. Just like the one in her dream.

"Oh... Hi Broc," she said, sitting down on the bottom step. She knew that she couldn't get up to her room now.

"Hey." He sat down right next to her. Kristi felt really uncomfortable with him being so close, so she edged closer to the wall, which was away from Broc.

"So.... Umm...Happy Birthday," he said, not really knowing what to say.

"Thanks."

"Do you like being thirteen?"

Kristi let out a small smile. "You sound like my mom. She always asks me that. It's okay, I guess."

It was quiet. Nobody said anything. Ronnie and her boyfriend hadn't come up from downstairs yet.

Broc looked around, expecting to see more people. "Where're all of your other friends?"

"I don't really have any," Kristi answered. She began to study the carpet.

"Sure you do. Stephanie's one of your best friends."

"She's in Mexico and won't be back until next week."

"Umm, any others?"

"No," Kristi replied. Since she had never gone to a school, and lived on a road with expensive mansions, she never had gotten to meet any kids her age. After thinking for a second, she added, "Not really."

"And whaddaya mean by that?"

She looked up from the carpet and looked at Broc. "I have friends in New York, but-"

Broc looked confused. "You've been living here for years and haven't made a lot of friends. Then you go to New York for a few weeks, and come home having more friends then you've ever had. How's that possible?"

Finally. They had reached something that Kristi was okay talking about. She smiled wider and said, "My uncle, his name's Dewey, started a band by taking on a substitute teaching, when he didn't have a teacher's license. Long story. But the band rehearsed the day that I came, and I got to meet the members. Katie-she's the bassist-she is a really good friend. And Marta, and Summer-they're good friends too-"

"What kind of band-"

Kristi was about to answer when Ronnie and Brad came up the stairs, holding hands, as usual. Kristi rolled her eyes and went to say hi to Brad.

He held out a small box wrapped in the Sunday comics. "Happy Birthday," he said, handing her the present. When she looked at it funny, he replied, "Sorry. We don't have any wrapping paper at our house."

She smiled and followed everyone into the dining room, where they sang to Kristi and had cake and ice cream.

While they were eating it, they had an interesting discussion.

"Well," Broc said to Kristi. "I hope you like the present. We were gonna get you a CD, but we didn't know what style of music you liked. Brad wanted to get you a classical one, but-"

"Did not," his big brother said. "At least I didn't want to give her a folk music tape."

Broc glared at his brother. Wanting to prevent an argument, Ronnie asked, "So, you like folk music Broc?"

"Yes I do," he said proudly.

"To me," Brad said, "classical is the best stuff out there. It soothes the mind and is fun to listen too. It's much better than rock-"

He was interrupted by Kristi's fork being set down a little too hard on the table. She glared at Brad.

"What kind of music do you listen too, Kristi?" Broc asked, wondering why she looked so upset.

"Every kind of rock that you could ever imagine," she replied, not taking her fierce look off of Brad, who was returning it with a large frown.

Brad made a coughing noise, in which the words, 'Bad taste' were concealed.

"Are you saying that I have bad taste?" Kristi said, raising her voice.

"Yes, I am," he said as loud as Kristi's voice was.

"You are the one with bad taste! Listening to flutes and trumpets! They ruin the songs, as well as the other instruments-"

"At least the people aren't always yelling," Brad retorted.

"They don't always yell! But at least they have lyrics to their songs."

"At least my music has rhythm." Brad's face was getting red as he stood up.

Kristi stood up, too. He was short, so they were at eye level. She yelled, "Yes it does. There are these things called drums that keep the beat. Some guys, like you, are too stupid to know that!"

"Are you calling me stupid!?"

Kristi nodded and continued, saying, "But at least a bunch of crappy old guys in wigs don't write what I listen to."

"They aren't crappy."

"Their songs aren't half as good as Led Zeppelin's, Green Day's, and Good Charlotte's stuff!"

Brads face was bright red, and Kristi's was tinged pink. Ronnie and Broc exchanged looks of pure terror. Kristi reached out one of her hands towards the cake. She looked like she was going to grab some cake and throw it at Ronnie's boyfriend.

Ronnie saw this, and slapped Kristi's hand and yelled, "Stop it! Stop it, both of you! I'm sick of this! Now calm down!"

Kristi and Brad sat down, and everyone was silent.

It stayed like that for five minutes, until Ronnie suggested, "Kristi, how 'bout you open your presents?"

"Sounds good," she coldly replied.

Kristi started opening the presents. From Ronnie, she got pink Chuck Taylor All Star shoes with pink and black shoelaces, and a guitar stand that could hold three guitars. Then she excitedly grabbed the big box.

Brad was staring at the box, wondering who it was from, so Broc said, "It's from New York."

The box was full of news paper and packing peanuts. On the top was a letter.

It read:

_Kristi,_

_Happy 13th Birthday from your favorite uncle!!_

_I hope you are having a good time back home. You weren't so keen to go there, but good luck. _

_Back here in New York City, nothing much is new. Summer's trying to get us a record deal, but it's not coming along too well. That's all. _

_Oh, and Zack might be able to walk again. Doesn't that rock? He's all excited, but nothing's for sure. He has to stay in the hospital for another week._

_In this box is a bunch of presents from the band members. They all signed the bottom of the letter, since no one knew where the nearest card shop was. Well, everyone but Zack, since he is in the hospital._

_Keep rockin'!_

_Dewey_

Along the bottom of the letter were notes from everyone:

_Happy Birthday, Kristi!! We all miss you. Katie_

_The band's not the same without you. You have to come visit soon!! Email me at Summer_

_Have the best birthday ever!! Love you like fat girls love your birthday cake, Marta_

_Happy 13th, Alicia_

_Have a good birthday. And that's not very funny, Marta. From Tomika_

_I hope that your birthday rocks, I guess. Lawrence_

Kristi frowned, then turned to Ronnie and said, "Freddy didn't sign it." Ronnie just shrugged, so she continued dig through the box.

Inside it were a bunch of gifts from her friends: a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to Hot Topic from Dewey; a Motorhead CD from Katie; a huge bag of Everlasting Gobstoppers was from Marta; a video documentary on The Who was from Summer; and from everyone else, there was a shirt with the School Of Rock logo on it.

Kristi realized that Freddy didn't give her anything. She decided not to worry about it as she put everything that she had gotten in the box. Then, she saw the present from Brad and Broc.

She tore off the comics and looked at what she got. It was an Edward Scissorhands DVD.

"Thanks," Kristi said to the two brothers. "I haven't seen it before, but I really want to. Doesn't it have Johnny Deep in it?"

"Yeah," her sister answered. "He is, like, so hot!"

Kristi frowned. "He is, like, so not," she mimicked.

They started to argue, until Brad interrupted and said, "Well, we should get going. Thanks for inviting us, Veronica."

"Yep, no prob."

"And thanks for the present," Kristi added.

Ronnie saw them to the door while Kristi took her stuff up to her room. She then went to help her sister clean up.

"Well, that went well," Ronnie said.

"It pretty much did, considering who you invited."

"Broc didn't ask you out, so whaddya mean?"

"I dunno."

They continued taking stuff down off of the walls and ceiling. Then Kristi randomly said, "I hate your boyfriend."

"What?" Ronnie said, a little louder than she meant to. "What did he ever do to you?"

"He insulted rock music-that's what."

Ronnie stopped taking streamers off of the ceiling and looked at her sister. "Not everyone likes rock, y'know."

"Well, they don't yell bad things about it in my face like he did," Kristi said coolly.

"You insulted what he likes to listen to, too!" The siblings were right in each others faces.

"But he started it."

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"He did not!"

"He did too Ronnie, and you know it! You just want to be nice about your pathetic little boyfriend, because he's the only guy that a person like you could ever manage to get to go on a date with!"

It was hard to tell who was looking more shocked between the two: Kristi or Ronnie.

"I...I didn't mean it," Kristi stammered.

"Right," Ronnie replied as she ran out of the dining room, up the stairs, and to her bedroom. Kristi followed suit.

"Man," she said when she was in her pajamas and deep in the covers of her bed. "That was the worst birthday ever."

* * *

It had been four days since Kristi's 'party'. She and Ronnie weren't speaking to each other anymore, and couldn't stand being in the same room as each other. Ronnie wouldn't even tell her sister if she was going anywhere. Kristi did the same one day and went to get ice cream at the store that was a few blocks away. She was only out for twenty minutes. When she came back, Ronnie spoke to her, asking, "Where were you?" 

"Gettin' ice cream," Kristi said, frowning. "Why would you care?"

"I dunno," was all that Ronnie could think of to say.

But today was Friday. And it was a nice, cool day. Kristi was excited about this day, because she had gotten to have a brief phone call from Summer the day before. She had told Kristi to get online at eleven, because Marta and Katie would be online too, and they could have a private buddy chat and just talk.

It was ten fifteen, and Kristi was excited. She was sitting at her desk, finishing up some letters. There was one each for Katie, Marta, Summer, and Dewey. They all said thank you for the gifts. The ones for the girls asked why Freddy didn't sent anything, and just said stuff about Kristi's life in California, and how much she hated it. The letters were almost done, when Kristi realized that she was missing something: stamps.

She ran down to the second story. Only one room in her house had stamps in it: Timothy's office.

She ran in it, only to be surprised. Her dad was sitting at his computer typing. He looked up when his daughter ran into the room.

"Dad," she said. "What are you doing back? I mean, you're home early. Why?"

He frowned. "I didn't need to stay any longer at Microsoft. Your mom will be home later this morning. I arrived here last night."

"Oh. Can I use the computer at eleven?"

Timothy thought for a moment, and then said, "No."

"But why?"

"I don't know. Why do you need to use the computer?"

"To talk to my friends online."

He grimaced. "If I was ever going to let you, I've now changed my mind."

Kristi was furious. "So, I can't talk to my friends?"

"Nope." Kristi almost thought that he had smiled when he had said that.

"Fine." She left, but not before she had taken a bunch of stamps from one of the drawers in her father's desk.

As Kristi ran up the stairs, her father said out loud to himself, "And I have to get that package mailed today."

Kristi went up to her room, grabbed the letters, envelopes, and a pen, and went out to her backyard. Her room was really hot and stuffy, and she liked being outside.

She sat down on the blue and white striped porch swing. It was next to the railing, so she could use it as a surface to write on.

Kristi finished up her letters. She stuffed them into the envelopes, and ran into her house.

The first floor was like the basement. There were boxes everywhere. Big ones and small ones, they were stacked everywhere, except for the corner near the door. But there was a guitar stand near it, and a small amp. Kristi practiced in the basement, because Ronnie couldn't stand the loud songs that Kristi played. But something was wrong: her sparkly blue guitar wasn't in the stand.

Kristi was confused. But she didn't think about it for long, because she could hear the mailman's truck coming down the road.

She darted out of the basement and ran out the door and down the long driveway. Just as she got there, the mailman pulled up.

"Do you want to mail those?" he asked in a soft voice as he brushed his sandy-blonde hair out of his face.

"Yes, please," she replied, a little out of breath.

The mailman took the letters and was about to pull away when a male voice called out, "Wait!"

Kristi turned to see who it was, and was shocked. It was her dad, and he was carrying a very large package.

It was like she was paralyzed-she couldn't say anything or move. She watched her dad come up to the truck, hand the mailman the box, and say, "Take care of this, it's worth a lot of money."

The mailman nodded, and it was only when he drove away that Kristi could say anything.

"So, Dad, what were you mailing?" she asked as her dad started to walk away.

He turned around and said, in a really strict tone, "Nothing."

"Oh, it was something. Tell me what it was."

"It not anything that you'd want, or anything that you would important to you." he said. But his bottom lip was twitching, and Kristi knew that he was lying. She thought of something that she would have that was that big.

"No," she suddenly said. It couldn't be. "You...you wouldn't take it....Would you?"

Timothy backing away was as much of a yes as painting the word on a sign and holding it up to Kristi's face. In anger she ran up to him to try to tackle him, but he grabbed her wrists.

"You sold it! You sent it away! Why?" she screamed. She tried to get him to let go. But his grip tightened.

"You have another guitar. But that one-it was rare and valuable," he said. Kristi stopped struggling to listen to her father continue. "I thought that I could get a lot of money off of it on EBay. So I took some pictures of it, and put it up for auction. I thought that it wouldn't go for much. But I was wrong; it want for nine hundred dollars, even though it was used. Some gentleman from New York City bought it. You will never see it again," he finished with a smirk.

Kristi couldn't take it anymore. She loved that electric guitar; it was a huge part of her life. She tried to kick her father where it hurt, but she missed and kicked his knee.

He acted like it didn't hurt, which surprised his daughter. Kristi knew that she could kick pretty hard. Timothy knew that she was thinking, and he used it to his advantage. His strong hands grabbed her shoulders in anger. He was mad at her for being born, for existing. And the anger had bubbled over the boiling pot. He pushed his daughter. She stumbled, and her back hit the post that the mailbox was on.

Pain filled Kristi's back. She slumped onto the nicely kept grass. She wanted to scream, to cry out. But she didn't want her father, who was grinning, to be satisfied anymore then he was.

So instead she yelled, "You dirty person! You liar! Cheater! Abuser!" he frowned at the last one.

"I know who you really are!" Kristi continued screaming. "You are as fowl person who doesn't appreciate his own wife, even! You nasty, rotten son of a–"

"Kristi!" yelled a voice. She turned her neck, despite the pain, and saw her mother's convertible. "How dare you call your father those names!" Then in a small voice, she mumbled, "Even if they are true."

"But he-"

"Go to your room," Timothy's strict voice called out.

"No!" she turned to her mother to try and explain. "Mom, he pushed me and-"

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" Kristi's dad yelled.

So, with much soreness, Kristi got up and slowly walked up to her room. She shut the door, and with pain, got onto her bed, and cried her eyes out.

* * *

Later that night, Kristi sat up on her bed. She was in her guitar pajama pants and a black baggy T-shirt. She was a tiny bit afraid to go ask if she could go downstairs. Her stomach growled. She hadn't gotten to eat anything since breakfast. 

Her dad suddenly threw open the door.

Kristi turned away. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Well then, the feeling's mutual."

Kristi forced a small smile as her dad walked in.

"Y'know, I don't want you in my room."

"I don't want you."

"Ouch," Kristi mumbled. Then in a louder voice, she said, "Well, I hate you too. You aren't nice to me, you aren't nice to Mom. I saw you beat her. And, I could tell someone that I know. Stephanie's dad is a policeman-he'd love to arrest you."

Anger was coursing through both Timothy and Kristi's veins. The angry father grabbed Kristi's arm and pulled her off of her bed. She let out a scream that was stopped when her dad's foot connected with her jaw.

Just as he had done to his wife, Timothy kicked her daughter, harder and harder with every move.

"You...are...not...to...tell...anyone...," he said in-between kicks. Kristi winced in pain and bravely shook her head to say no.

That was it. He clutched her throat and pinned her up against the wall, making it almost impossible for Kristi to breathe.

"Will you rethink that answer?" he asked.

Kristi was terrified. He father's tone of voice had changed. It was more menacing that before. She would have gone hysterical if she wasn't so angry at him. That anger made her whisper out, as she was struggling for air, "No."

Timothy was frustrated. Hurting his daughter was harder than he thought it would be. He glanced around the room to find something to hurt her more, and saw a blood-stained bread knife on the floor a few feet away from him. He grabbed it, with some difficulty, and slashed Kristi's arm.

Kristi screamed in agony as blood flowed freely from her upper arm. "Alright. I won't tell!" she cried out, but regretted it no sooner then it was out of her mouth.

"Good." Timothy let go of her neck and walked out of the room.

He then turned at the doorway and said, "You might want a towel-it's really bleeding," and then left.

* * *

It was midnight. Kristi sat crying on her bed. The wound wouldn't stop bleeding. So, as a last resort, she had taken a bed sheet, ripped it in half, and tightly wrapped and tied it around her arm. 

"I can't take it," she said out loud. "I don't want to live her anymore. I hate it, I hate him. What can I do?"

She sat thinking, and then it came to her. "I'll run away."

She took off her pajamas and put on jeans and a tank top. She tried to put a jacket on, but it wouldn't go on over the bed sheet. Kristi then crawled under her bed. There was a small flap of carpet that she lifted up. Underneath it was a fifty dollar bill. She stuck it the bottom of her backpack. She then grabbed a bag from her closet. In it she put in some spare clothes, some cans of food that she took from the kitchen, and a can opener. She also took the knife to defend herself and to just have it with. She zipped up her sack and grabbed her gig bag with her Epiphone in it. She left the amp; where she was going, she wouldn't need it.

She laced up her All Stars and went to her dad's office-the place that she didn't want to be. What she wanted was the wallet that was sitting on the computer desk. Her dad always left it there, for some reason. She took all of the money out of it and put it in her own wallet, which went into her jacket pocket.

Kristi then walked down the steps, out of the house, and into the night.

* * *

"Are you sure that you really want to do this?" 

"I'm positive." Zack was sitting in a metal wheelchair with a green seat. They were in an empty room. The chairs and trays were pushed away to make a small walkway. Dr. Wentworth and two nurses were standing next to him.

Zack carefully moved the foot-stands and slid so his feet touched the floor. The two nurses each grabbed an arm and helped him up, so he was standing. His legs were shaking a little, but he just stood there, being held up, for a few you, let go of my arms, please?"

As Dr. Wentworth shook his head to say no, the nurses slowly let go of his arms. Zack staggered a little, but pushed the wall to prevent the fall.

His knees felt like Jello as he tried to stand.

Dr. Wentworth, who was standing across the room, hurried over to Zack and said, "Maybe this is a bad idea-"

"No!" Zack tried to step forward towards the doctor, but his feet wouldn't work. He tried to scuff instead, but when the foot moved, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

The nurses rushed to his side and helped him into the wheelchair.

"But I want to try again. Can't I? I'll do better, I know I will."

"No," came Dr. Wentworth's stern voice. "It won't work. The feeling in your legs probably won't be back. I'm sorry, but you probably won't walk, ever again."

Zack bit his lower lip, trying not to let any tears escape. He was silent as his wheelchair was pushed into a small room where his parents sat, with his brother Adam. They had a small reunion, with a lot of hugs.

The doctor interrupted them and asked Zack, "What color wheelchair would you like?"

"Black-with flames," was his reply. "When do I get it, and when do I get to go home?"

"In a few days," he said as he left the room.

Zack sat in silence as his family started to talk.

A few days later, Zack was pushed out of the hospital by Adam .Why he was smiling, he didn't know. He was out of the hospital, but he didn't have legs that walked. He was pushed over to his parents silver PTCruiser, which had a blue and white handicapped sticker on the license plate.

Handicapped. It was a word that Zack hated. A word that meant no walking. No jumping. No riding dirt bikes. It almost meant no fun. He used to use that word in jokes with his friends, but he regretted it as he was lifted out of his wheelchair by his brother and placed into the car. How could people joke about that stuff?

Zack was quiet as they drove home. After thinking for sometime, he asked his mom, "Mom, we have a two-story house. I can't get up the stairs to my bedroom, so where do I sleep?"

"In the living room-we'll pull out the bed in the couch."

When they got home Zack was thinking that his life had taken a sudden turn for the worst.

* * *

The sun was coming up above the trees and small houses. Kristi was walking past a small little community. She had been walking since she had left her house. 

_Do I really want to do this?_ she asked herself. _Yes, they're mean to you, and you don't need people in your life that do that to you._

She noticed that there was a McDonalds on the road that she was walking on, so she stopped and had something to eat.

When she was done, she kept on walking until she found the place that she was looking for: West Point Train Station. Since airplane tickets were too expensive, she thought that she could take a train ride to where she wanted to go: New York City.

"Excuse me," she said to the man at the ticket booth. "Is there a train that will take me as far East as I would like to go?"

"Why, yes," he replied. "The Clarksburg, West Virginia train left last night at six; the Raleigh, North Carolina train leaves tomorrow, at three o'clock; and the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania one leaves today at two ten."

Kristi's face fell. "That's it?"

The man shuffled through some papers. "Oh, no. One for Albany, New York, leaves in five minutes. But, it's really expensive-"

Kristi pulled out a wad on money and said, "One ticket, please!"

In less than ten minutes, Kristi was on her way to New York. She had gotten on the train with just a minute to spare, and was sitting in a small compartment with only a few other people. The compartment was a little musty, since it had the cheapest seats. When a conductor came by with food, it was a tiny sandwich, a small bag of chips, and little glass of water.

Kristi was glad that she was leaving. Since she was on a train that wouldn't stop, she couldn't turn back. She wasn't feeling regret, but she was afraid that she might.

Later that night, a bunch of people came throughout the tiny compartment. When Kristi asked why they were passing through, someone said to her, "The beds are this way, dear."

Kristi didn't leave the compartment, even though the other passengers did. She would sleep in the seat that she was in. She curled up in it and fell asleep.

* * *

It had been a little more than a week, and Kristi was sitting up in the seat. She looked out the window and saw green trees and a small garden. 

"Where are we?" she said out loud.

"In Cumberland, Maryland, dear-I just asked," came the gravelly voice of the elderly lady sitting in the next row. Over the week, Kristi had gotten to know the four other passengers in the section. The older lady with short silver-gray hair was Betsy. All eleven of her children lived in Albany. The two men in the back, named Roscoe and Ernie, were motorcyclists. There was a rally in New York that they had to go to. Roscoe had a red mullet, and Ernie had a blonde Mohawk. The last person was a timid twenty-three year old named Emily. She was going home after studying theatre arts in San Jose, California. She had long, frizzy, almond colored hair and thick black glasses.

"What are you writing?" Emily asked, in barely more than a whisper.

"A song, and its not coming along well," Kristi replied. She franticly scribbled out a line with her pen. Then she frustratedly said, "I'm running out of ink."

"Here." Emily threw a pen with a trembling hand. It missed Kristi and skidded on the floor near the door. Kristi jumped to the floor, knocking her backpack onto it, and went to grab it. But there was a foot on it.

She looked up and saw the male ticket taker. His unibrow was furrowed, and his gray eyes were glaring at her.

"Excuse me miss."

Kristi hopped up. "Sorry, sir. I just dropped this here pen that you are stepping on." He then kicked it across the section.

"What was that for?" she angrily shouted. The man just smirked.

Everyone looked at him as he said, "Attention everyone," like the place was full. "I am Conductor Burton, and I need to know the ages of all of our passengers."

Various numbers were shouted out.

"I am seventy-three, sir."

"T-twenty-th-three."

"My buddy is almost forty, and I'm thirty-two."

"I ain't forty, Ern, you are. I'm thirty-seven."

"Nuh-uh."

"Ya-huh. Wanna go?"

"Gentlemen, please," Conductor Burton said. He looked at Kristi, who hadn't replied. "You age, miss."

She weakly smiled. "I just turned thirteen," but remembered that she should lie, quickly added, "I mean, seventeen. I'm seventeen."

Burton sneered. He loved getting little kids, and old adults, into trouble. It gave his boring life something to look forward to every day. He was miserable; his wife left him for a rich, young, man; his children didn't keep in touch; and he had just lost his house. He lived on this train. Making people feel miserable took his pain away.

He adjusted his navy blue vest and said, "So I assume that one of these...fine people...are you parents."

He saw a fire light up in this girl's eyes as she furiously said, "No. I'm running away from them."

That was just what Burton wanted to hear. A little too gleefully, he said, "Well, my dear, you have to have a parent or guardian with you. Since none of these people fit either category, you have to get off at the next stop."

"But you can't do that!"

He loved the upset cry that she gave. "Yes I can."

"But you made that up!"

"No, I didn't," he lied.

"Where do I go when I get off?"

"That's your business miss...um..."

"Kristi."

"Well Miss Kristi, that's up to you. So pack your bags, the next stop's in five."

* * *

Kristi formed a 'thumbs up' sign as some cars passed by. It was no use. She had been walking constantly for almost two days on an empty stomach. Her food and water supply was gone, and there were no stores around. Her arms and face were red from the scorching sun, and her feet hurt. She smelled like body odor, and she felt like passing out. 

She turned the corner, and that's when she saw it. A Burger King. Kristi frantically looked through her bag, trying to remember where she had put her wallet. "Oh, right, my jacket."

But her jacket wasn't there. She must have left it on the train. She violently cursed and continued walking. The Burger King had been a mirage, and it wasn't the first one.

* * *

Early the next morning, Kristi looked up from where she was hurling, and thought she saw a penguin drinking coffee. She wiped her mouth and kept going. 

At nine, she saw a train station. Figuring it was a mirage, she ignored it and started to walk on the railroad tracks. But it was hard; the tracks kept moving and spinning.

"Hey! Don't walk on those! A train will be here soon!" a female voice called.

"What? This is a train station?"

"Duh."

Kristi got off and smiled. "Cool."

She went up to an orange ticket booth and asked the redheaded lady about times and prices. She had said that you could take a train to New York City at nine fifteen, and make it there at dark. But, it would cost fifty dollars.

Kristi cursed and threw herself down on a bench. Her backpack clattered onto the pavement. A little blond haired boy, no older than five, picked something up off the ground and said, "Lady, this fell out of your bag."

"Thanks," Kristi mumbled as he skipped away. She unfolded the green paper, not believing her eyes. It was a fifty dollar bill.

She ran up to the ticket booth and cried out, "Quick! One ticket to New York City!"

"You better hurry! The train leaves in thirty seconds!" the lady called out after the running teen.

* * *

Kristi opened her eyes to hear a man call out, "Snacks! Anybody want one?" 

She shook her head as he walked on by. The train was full; she had purchased one of the last tickets. It felt good to be on an air conditioned train heading to New York. Even though she felt like she could die any minute, life was okay.

A sign emerged into view that said, "Welcome To New York". She softly smiled and closed her eyes, so she wouldn't feel dizzy.

* * *

"No way!" 

"You can't be serious!"

"That's got to be the biggest bunch of lies that I've ever heard."

"Well, it's not Freddy," Summer Hathaway said. "All of this is true!"

"What's true?" Dewey asked as he came into the room with an apple in his right hand. "I didn't hear it?"

Alicia smiled and said, "Summer told us that-"

"That I sent our press kit to Easy Records-the company down the street from here," she explained. "They talked it over-letting us record there, and gave me a call. And they said that they'd BE HAPPY TO RECCORD OUR CD!!"

A bunch of cheers were let out from all of the band members.

"This rocks!" said Zack, while Freddy rolled his eyes from his seat on the windowsill. Zack was able to come to the meetings, now that he was out of the hospital. He was still in a wheelchair, and his arm was still bandaged up. He added, "But who's going to play lead?"

Everyone fell silent as he continued. "I mean, I don't get my arm out of the cast until next week. Then I have to learn the music. Unless we record in a month, we won't be ready."

"I never thought of that," Summer said in an undertone. "Dang it."

She took her baby blue cell phone out of her jacket pocket and went into the kitchen. After a few minutes, where there was absolute silence, she came back.

"You could have used my phone, Tink," Dewey said. "What did they say?"

Summer sighed. "They said that the latest we could come in is two weeks. They're really busy after that, and they 'don't want to take any extra time to mess with little kids'. We might have to find an extra guitar player. Does anyone know anyone-"

SLAM. The door was pushed open by a girl. She was dragging a guitar on the floor, and she had on a backpack. She had some major sunburn. Her brown hair was greasy her clothes was dirty, and her eyes were bloodshot. She looked like she was really sick. No one knew who she was, except for Dewey.

He got up off of the amp he was sitting on and said in a slightly awed, upset, and amazed voice, "Kristi? Is that you?"

"I'm back," she replied in a hoarse voice. Then she collapsed to the ground.

* * *

_So, what do you think? I hope you liked it. But, I'm officially out of ideas. I would love to hear ideas and suggestions. Just tell me what you'd like to see in a review, and I'll see what I can do. Also, tell me what you thought about the dream. Did it seem realistic enough? Did it make sense? Thanks! Oh, and buttered popcorn Dum-Dums for my faithful reviewers._

_**Legolas-Aragorn-r-hot**- Thanks, Mellon Nin. Is this really like Ariel's story? It not that angst-filled, is it?_

_**Mellowyellow36**- Thank you. Since school just started, I don't know how long the wait will be. But I'll try not to wait as long. As for the plate, IT'S MINE!! (Just kidding.) I also have a fork...._

_**Can't remember my username**- I like the screen name. I'm surprised I can remember mine (I have a REALLY bad memory). Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad you like my story._

_**Ally124**- Thanks. I always love long chapters. Mine sometimes are short, but can get pretty long (like this one)._


	11. The Unexpected Farewell

Note: This is an Author's Note – NOT a chapter!

Hello everyone. I'm sorry that this took so ling to post. I hope you're not mad at me, for the wait, and for what I'm going to say. It's pretty hard to write this. 

I'm not going to continue this story. It's, well, it's not as fun as it used to be to write this. I got stressed about getting the chapters up. And, I had trouble thinking of ideas.

I also don't think that too many people like it. And that I can understand. It's a Mary-Sue, and it's not that exciting, interesting, etc. It wasn't written well at all. Not many people reviewed, and it just didn't seem well liked.

I don't have enough time, energy, or ideas too keep posting. I hope that it doesn't disappoint too many people. Sorry if it does. Maybe I'll post another story sometime. When I can actually be faithful to my reviewers.

By the way, thanks to the reviewers that reviewed for almost every chapter: Shadowfaxgal7, Legolas-Aragorn-r-hot, and MellowYellow36. You guys kept me going. It made me feel good toread your reviews.

Well, farewell to all of you. Thanks for reading.

See ya on the flip side,

Freddy'sGirl01


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